25 Days of Hell
by Kavi Leighanna
Summary: 2007 Annual Christmas Story. He has always hated Christmas, and this year he's going to show the BAU what the holiday season means to him.
1. Let it Snow

_**For the last 2 years, I have written a story with some sort of link to Christmas. This year, I came up with this one.**_

_**It will follow each of the 25 days of December leading up to Christmas, including Christmas Day and Christmas Eve. There is some desecration of religious symbols and I want to get that warning out now. I am Christian, that's why those are the holidays that are easiest and the symbols that are easiest to use. I'm sorry if it offends you, it is not my purpose at all.**_

_**Lastly, now that all the depressing stuff is out of the way, there will be some pairings in this. As anyone who has read any of my others stories can attest to, I am a very passionate Morgan-Garcia shipper. However, I haven't officially decided on the others yet so if you have an idea, let me know. The only one that's going to show up in the early chapters is going to be Morgan and Garcia's.**_

_**I lied, one more thing. Because this follows all 25 days, my goal is to have a new chapter up each day, though a couple each day until I catch up.**_

_**If you guys don't like it, I won't continue it and start a Christmas story elsewhere, so please review (grins)**_

* * *

**December 1, 2007**

The clouds were grey, pouring a steady stream of snow down onto the quiet grounds of Quantico, but it went virtually unnoticed in the Behavioural Analysis Unit of the FBI. In fact, very few things were going to penetrate the supreme concentration of the team of six as they pushed through the administration that came with their jobs.

Dr Spencer Reid looked up as a ball of paper bounced off the top of his head, glaring at the chocolate man kitty-corner from his desk. "Thanks, Morgan," he glowered.

Derek Morgan just laughed, crumpling another page and aiming this time for his sometimes-partner Emily Prentiss' garbage can on the other side of her body. "Awe, come on, Reid. Stop being a party pooper."

Emily jumped as the paper hit home and sighed as she leaned back from her desk. "Give him a break, Morgan. We've been slipping him files for the last two days, the least we can do is give him peace and quiet while he works on them."

Reid blinked once at this new revelation before returning to glaring at both of them. "That's not fair."

"What's not fair?" blond-haired Jennifer Jareau asked as she entered the bullpen, leaning against the side of Reid's desk just behind the genius' right shoulder.

"They've been slipping me file!" Reid exclaimed before Emily or Morgan could protest or lie.

JJ laughed. "Of course they are. Isn't it weird that you have to fill out questions regarding the press releases or press conferences from the last case?"

"You've been doing it too!"

JJ looked to Morgan and Emily. "Thirteen in two days."

Emily sighed. "Eight. It's so much harder when the man sits right across from you."

"Except I've been giving you plenty of chances," Morgan responded. "And I win with sixteen."

Both women groaned as they handed over a ten-dollar bill each.

"How does he do it?" Emily asked, very reluctantly parting with her money.

"That's not fair!" Reid repeated looking forlornly at his large pile of brown stamped folders.

"Judging by that snowstorm Morgan and Emily will be asking for them back any minute," came the knowing voice of the head of their team, Aaron Hotchner. "It doesn't look like anyone here is going to get home tonight."

Everyone sighed or groaned, eyes now fixed on the snow that had previously gone unnoticed.

"It's not like I have anything against snow," Emily said. "I love skiing, but I _hate_being stuck at work."

"I'm a snowboarding type of girl," JJ agreed. "But this much snow is going to make it hell to get out of here, whether it's late tonight or tomorrow morning."

"You snowboard, JJ?" Morgan asked.

"You sound surprised."

Morgan shrugged. "Just something I didn't know about you, up there with your love for collecting butterflies. What about you, Reid?"

"I'm not athletic," came the prompt reply, brown eyes fixed back on the files and only absently paying attention to the conversation around him.

"What are we talking about? Ooh! Look at the snow!"

Morgan chuckled at Penelope Garcia's childhood glee as she perched herself on the uncomfortable arm of his desk chair, eyes fixated on the windows and white sheet outside. "Skiing, snowboarding…"

Garcia wrinkled her nose distastefully. "So mature. I'm the good old fashioned snow fight type, thanks. And building snow people."

"Did you know that building snowmen is a tradition that dates back to the Middle Ages? Men used to build them after the first snowfall but it's mainly been restricted to Western cultures and those in the northern hemisphere—"

"Ah so there is some humanity in our little Dr Reid," Garcia teased. "I wasn't sure you'd have any information on snow people."

Reid blushed. "I read a lot," he mumbled.

"We know," the team chorused.

"What are we supposed to do now? I mean all the paperwork is done, except for Reid, we have no cases…" Morgan said, twisting a pen in his hands.

A junior agent came rushing forward, a white envelope clutched in his hands. "Agent Hotchner! This came for you this morning, it was just processed." With a shaking hand he held it out for Hotch.

The envelope was embossed with snowflakes and the address was typed in block letters: 'BAU, Quantico VA'. The paper inside was embossed with the same snowflakes, words printed in the same block lettering:

_Oh the weather outside is frightful  
But the fire is so delightful  
And since we've no place to go  
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow_

_It doesn't show signs of stopping  
And we've brought some corn for popping  
The lights are turned way down low  
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow_

_This is the beginning…_


	2. Deck the Halls

**December 2, 2007**

The street was quiet but lit happily with Christmas lights. After all, Pleasant Way was known for it's Christmas decorations and it's friendly neighbourhood. However, for the lone figure standing at the head of the street, the bright lights, happy Santas and pious manger scenes were offensive. He approached the first house, careful to keep his footprints on the shovelled walk way and not on the snow. The last thing he wanted was for anyone to hear him.

Then he got to work.

Wires were cut, huge blow up lawn decorations slashed to pieces, lights broken, stolen and spread across pure white snow. The few snowmen that the children of the street had built were easily torn down, the carrots left sticking up in the snow and the broken twigs the only reminder one existed in the first place.

It took him six hours, but by the time the sun just started peaking over the horizon the figure was making his way to his nearby car, sliding in and ensuring his tool box was tucked safely on the floor of the back seat.

Then he was gone, before any of the inhabitants of the street woke, leaving behind him a trail of holiday devastation.

* * *

Emily rubbed her eyes tiredly as she entered the BAU. She'd gotten home way too early in the morning to allow her enough time to sleep before having to be in for work. As it was, she was an hour and a half late because of the intense traffic that saw snow and freaked out. The commute was a disadvantage to living Fort Meyer Heights, but she loved her apartment too much to give it up. 

Reid and Morgan were already their, each occupying themselves in whatever way they could think of. Reid was reading at his 20 000 words per minute, engrossed in whatever new information he was currently absorbing. Morgan, on the other hand, went for the solitaire route, his mouse blurring across the screen and a testament to the number of games he'd played in the past.

"Did anyone come up with anything for those lyrics?" she asked, her voice sounding as tired as she felt.

"Good morning to you too sunshine," Morgan replied taking her in. "Busy night?"

"I wish," Emily answered. "It would be so much more glamourous than the real answer of driving into work in hellish traffic and getting home almost too late to even get four hours of sleep."

Morgan let out a low whistle, his way of showing sympathy. He'd had his own late nights, though rarely from travelling to and from home and more likely from being otherwise occupied.

Hotch passed by just then and Emily caught his attention. "Anything with those lyrics?"

* * *

Emma Dickson skipped down the stairs to the kitchen that morning, the same time she always did, ready to go to school. The Christmas lights were sparkling on the tree and she stopped, as per her morning routine, to see if her parents had put anything under the tree yet even though she knew there would be nothing there until Christmas Eve. 

"Morning, Em," her father said jovially, setting a plate of waffles down in front of his seven-year-old daughter.

"Morning Daddy!"

"And how's my pumpkin today?"

"Daddy, why are there no presents under the tree?"

Her father chuckled. "The reason hasn't changed, Sweetie. We don't put them out until Christmas Eve. Now, eat up or you're going to miss the bus."

Fifteen minutes later, she stepped outside…

And screamed

* * *

"Nothing," Hotch answered. "There's no prints, no DNA on the envelope, nothing. And we have no idea what it's the beginning of." 

"I hate waiting," Emily said on a sigh.

Hotch's hand absently came to Emily's shoulder for a brief moment. "None of us do," he agreed.

Emily sighed, forcing herself not to acknowledge the heat of her boss' hand on her shoulder.

"It could be nothing, right?" Morgan volunteered.

"It could be nothing," Hotch agreed. "It could be a prank."

"Then why send it directly to us?" Reid asked. "Why not just to the FBI?"

* * *

Detective Jacob Marsh looked down Pleasant Way, shaking his head. It happened every year, a different street in Annandale, Virginia. Christmas was well-loved throughout his jurisdiction and this supreme desecration of everything Christmas always threw the inhabitants for a little bit of a loop.

"What's the diagnosis, doc?"

Jacob turned to his partner, Lindsay Wild, with a little bit of a roll of his eyes. "Looks like our Christmas vandal is back."

Lindsay nodded. "Full throttle."

"What about the writing though? The writing is…"

"New," Lindsay finished with a nod. "Deck the Halls."

They took in the front step of the corner house, both pairs of eyes completely focused on the black writing on the windows

_Deck the halls with boughs of holly  
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la  
'Tis the season to be jolly  
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la  
Don we now our gay apparel.  
__Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la  
Troll the ancient Yuletide carol.  
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la._


	3. Winter Wonderland

**December 3, 2007 **

While the lyrics weighed on some minds, the majority of the team opted to focus on the lack of case they had and play up the Christmas season. Some more so than others at that, for Garcia had bribed JJ into wearing an elf outfit as they skipped and scampered through the FBI hallways, aiming specifically for one bullpen.

Reid, Morgan and Emily looked up immediately at the sounds of the ringing bells on the elf hats the latter two smiling broadly as both women stopped and struck a pose. Reid, on the other hand was blushing bright red, eyes fixed on JJ.

"To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit, all the way from the North Pole and all?" Morgan asked with a cheeky grin.

Garcia grinned back, tilting her head and making her hat ring happily. "The elves have been informed that a certain team has been a little bit lax on their decorating scheme," she shot back.

Morgan made a show of looking around the bullpen, more than used to playing Garcia's games. "Us?"

JJ made a show of huffing. "Look around, this place has no holiday spirit!"

"And we have all the time in the world to change that," Garcia said before anyone else could protest. "We have a box and we're going to decorate this place, no ifs, ands or buts."

Morgan held up his hands, knowing much better than to contradict Garcia when she was in a bossy mood. "What ever floats your boat, Princess."

"That's such a good answer."

* * *

"_And don't you forget to be here with cranberry sauce two hours before dinner. I will not have you ruin Christmas the first time your sister brings home a boyfriend, is that understood?"_

The nasal voice was carrying on in his head, driving him crazy. He hated Christmas, everything about it from the decorations to the food to the family, It was a stupid time of year, an excuse for everyone to spend money on "themselves", on the best decorations or the best food or the best presents.

Christmas was all about family, spending time with them, reminding yourself of how much they mean to you, but he didn't care. His family didn't mean that much and he had no dire need to really spend that much time with them. If it wasn't for his sister, he would ignore Christmas all together.

"She just wants everything to go right."

He sighed into his cell phone as he made his way through the park. "I know, Carrie, but does she have to be so anal about it?"

"She's busy, you know how she gets when she's rushing around trying to get everything right."

He ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. His eyes landed on a nearby snowman built by one of the hundreds of children in the surrounding neighbourhood. "I have to go Carrie, I'll call you later."

He had an idea.

* * *

Penelope Garcia surveyed her troops with a satisfied smile, JJ now her second in command. She and JJ had produced Santa hats for everyone in the Decorating Unit and even Hotch was wearing one. "Alright people, here is our mission, should we choose to accept it and we have no choice: we must Christmas-ify the BAU! Now, you will be split into pairs, given a kit and sent off to decorate. JJ, you take our illustrious doctor, see if you can teach him a thing or two about _fun_Christmas." 

Reid started to open his mouth, but JJ grabbed his arm and yanked him off.

"Em, you take Hotch, you're the only one that'll probably get him to do anything." Then she eyed Morgan, giving him an exaggerated once over. "And you, Gorgeous, are with me. You ready?"

Morgan grinned. "Put me to work Mama."

* * *

Jacob paused just outside the crime scene tape, taking in the multi-coloured splotches all over the scene. _Footprints_, his mind logged. _And_ _that would be a bleeding snowman._ "Is that real blood?" 

"'Fraid so Detective," the CSU tech replied. "We'll test it and get the results back to you ASAP, but there's no guarantee he's in the system."

"Run it against the blood we found last year," Jacob requested. "See if you get a match before you try running it through any databases."

"Sure thing."

Lindsay jogged up behind him in the snow. "No one saw or heard anything. If this is the same guy as last year, we're looking at twenty-two more days of this."

"What do you think? Jacob asked his partner. "You think it's some kid just trying to scare the neighbourhood?"

"Pleasant Way is two streets down," Lindsay agreed. "It could very easily be a gang of kids."

Jacob looked down at the raven-haired woman. They'd been partners for three years and they knew each other's rhythms. He didn't have to vocalize the 'but'.

"Blood?" Lindsay answered the unasked question. "Real, human blood? What kind of prankster is going to do that?"

* * *

"Mama, is all of this mistletoe truly necessary?" Morgan asked, one hand on Garcia's back as she balanced precariously on a chair. 

"Sweetness, if I am ever going to get Reid to finally admit to his total crush on JJ, I am going to need to arm the place."

"You are _not_getting me involved in a matchmaking scheme!"

She looked over her shoulder and grinned down at him. "Not so much, stop being so paranoid."

"Paranoid, Goddess, you've got me aiding and abetting in a matchmaking scheme!" Morgan exclaimed, though the sparkle in his eye spoke volumes of his teasing.

She humphed good-naturedly as she finished tying the ribbon on top of the bullpen doors. "You have no romantic heart, Derek Morgan. I'm coming down."

"Romantic heart? Come on, that's not true. I just don't agree with someone's first kiss under mistletoe. It seems way too clichéd for my liking," Morgan responded, guiding her down carefully. "Is that the last one?"

Garcia nodded. "This place looks so much better now."

"You really love Christmas, don't you?"

It was a rhetorical question, but she grinned at him and nodded anyway. "My favourite holiday. What about you?"

"I like it," he agreed and laughed when she just raised an eyebrow at him. "What? I like Christmas, I just don't think it's the be-all-end-all holiday."

She looked at him. "We have our Christmas Eve dinner every year. Are you telling me that's not fun?"

"Do I look suicidal," he teased. "'Course it's fun, it's probably up there with my mom's birthday for traditional meals, but let's remember, Baby Girl, I work on Christmas."

"I never understood that."

"That way those with families don't have to. I go back to Chicago for Mom's birthday and call her on Christmas. It works for us."

She linked arms with him. "I'll never understand it."

Another agent stuck his head through the doors, just as Garcia was threading her arm through his. "Agent Morgan, could you make sure this gets to Agent Hotchner?"

Morgan looked down at the envelope and immediately agreed, having the courtesy to at least wait until the agent wasn't watching to open the envelope. "You know, Pen. I don't think these lyrics are just fun and games."

_In the meadow we can build a snowman,  
Then pretend that he is Parson Brown  
He'll say: Are you married?  
We'll say: No man,  
But you can do the job  
When you're in town._

_In the meadow we can build a snowman,  
And pretend that he's a circus clown  
We'll have lots of fun with mister snowman,  
Until the other kids knock him down._


	4. Sleigh Ride

**December 4, 2007**

JJ had to admit, it felt a lot better to enter a well-decorated bullpen. It just made the whole place seem so much happier and when comparing the things they tended to see on a regular basis, happy was a necessary break from murder and mayhem. She also very much enjoyed the break they were getting right now in terms of cases.

"Morning boys, Em," she greeted as she bypassed them. "Oh, Spence, I never thanked you for finishing all that paperwork for me."

Reid blushed and glared at the same time. "It wasn't like I had much of a choice."

"Well thanks anyway," she said, flashing him a blinding smile.

Emily snorted in laughter as Reid's blush intensified. "Ask. Her. Out."

"You say that all the time," Reid responded, averting his eyes.

"And she'll stop saying it when you do it," Morgan answered. Partner or not, good friend or not, teasing Reid would always be one of Morgan's all time favourite pastimes.

"Ask Garcia out," Reid shot back.

"Whoa!" Emily exclaimed with glee. "He found his backbone!"

"Too bad he won't do anything with it," Morgan agreed. "And remember my theory about women with guns? Garcia's almost twice as scary based solely upon what she can do with a computer."

"He makes a good point. I'd rather be dead than ruined," Emily agreed.

Hotch interrupted them with a soft clearing of his threat, JJ right beside him. "We need to have a talk."

The three team members exchanged a glance. Hotch sounded grave and he had a file folder in his hand. That never boded well for any of the team at any time.

"Where are we going?" Morgan asked automatically.

"Nowhere. Conference room in five, please."

It was with grave faces that the Behavioural Analysis Unit gathered in the conference room, taking their seats around the table, the happiness that previously surrounded them now faded away in the face of a potentially new case.

"We don't actually have a case," JJ started, placing four pages and a glossy magazine page on the round table. . "We haven't been called by local PD, we haven't even contacted local PD because we know nothing beyond the fact that these are lyrics from Christmas carols."

"Then why are we here?" Morgan asked. "I was nice and happy all focused on, well, happy things."

"The lyrics have to mean something," Emily spoke up. "Something hasn't been sitting right with me about them. And there's that one day we got nothing."

"So he missed a day?" Morgan asked.

"We have nothing to profile the guy on, he hasn't committed any crime," Reid pointed out. "Taunting the FBI is hardly a crime."

"And the genius comes through again!" Garcia exclaimed happily. "If it's all the same to you, I'm going to head back to my Rudolph."

"The movie?" JJ asked eagerly.

Garcia shot a surreptitious glance at Hotch. "Of course not Jayje, why would I be watching movies at work?" The wink, however, told a different story.

"I'm with Reid on this one, Hotch. We've got nothing else to go on and all this picture tells us is that the guy was not happy with this happy family picture. That gives us nothing, again and still."

One by one, Reid, JJ, Garcia and Morgan filed out of the room, going back to whatever activities had been holding their attention before. Emily, however, stayed behind, elegant hands moving the pages so they were spread in front of her. Hotch stood to leave, but Emily's voice caught him in the doorway.

"What if we're wrong?"

He turned, not surprised to find her eyes still focused on the paper. It was characteristic of her when she felt she was defying authority. "I beg your pardon?"

She looked up at him, eyes flashing. "What if there wrong and this is all relevant? What if there's something we're missing? I mean, this last message, the destroyed magazine picture, is the exact opposite of the lyrics that the guy printed out."

Hotch approached, taking the empty chair beside her so he could look at the verse she had pointed out and was now holding. The little part of his brain that catalogued the smell of her shampoo and skin was shoved harshly aside in favour of the words printed on the snowflake stationary.

_There's a happy feeling nothing in the world can buy,  
When they pass around the turkey and the pumpkin pie.  
It'll nearly be like a picture print by Currier and Ives.  
These wonderful things are the things we remember all through our lives!_

"Sleigh Ride," Emily said before he could even pass his opinion. "It's a happy song, it's a song about the best parts of Christmas, so why focus on just this verse and send this exact picture?"

There was a million different things he could say to her, a million different reasons, most of them to do with unsubs and cases. But he didn't want to spoil the Christmas fun for any of his team, even someone as ambitions and precocious as Emily. "For now there's nothing we can do. You know we don't take cases unless we're invited."

Emily sighed as she put down the pages, leaning back and brushing against the arm Hotch had left resting on the back of her chair for support as he leaned over her shoulder. "Something tells me we're playing with fire."

"There's nothing we can do."

She sighed and sat in silence for a minute before rolling her head to the side, hair brushing his suit and hand. "Okay then boss, give us something to do. I can only watch Morgan play so many games of solitaire."

Aaron Hotchner took pause. He wasn't blind, Emily Prentiss was an attractive woman, but there were a million things wrong with any scenario other than leader-subordinate. "I hear Garcia's watching Rudolph."

Emily wrinkled her nose. "Maybe Reid's not done all of those reports we slipped him. He's never been good at writing reports."

Hotch sad back in the chair, his mind whirling with a million different things, not all of them Emily. What if she was right, though, and there was an unsub out there that was committing real crimes and they just couldn't find the right police department? But it wasn't there job to go looking for cases, it was the job of the department to request them. It kept the BAU from stepping on local toes and creating a bureaucratic nightmare someone as PR savvy as JJ couldn't fix.

Goodness, how he hated the waiting game.


	5. Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday

**December 5, 2007**

Quiet wasn't usually a characteristic of the BAU unless the team was out working a case. Otherwise, there was usually a hustle and bustle of activity, but it seemed even the police departments had decided to be nice and not request the help of the BAU. Under any other circumstances, it would be a brilliant thing. This time, it was just plain boring.

And Penelope Garcia hated boring.

Nothing in her life was dull or lifeless. She decorated her office with funky colours and figurines and the walls of her apartment were bright purple, a testament to how 'not normal' she was. She'd always been like that, a little out there, a little crazy, but it was her.

Which is why she took it completely upon herself to figure out something that would spice up the place.

Christmas the perfect excuse to do just about anything and she could, in theory, think of a million different things to do. However, what she needed was a way that she could make things more interesting that didn't take away from the image of being productive.

And she had the perfect idea.

* * *

"Every single morning, as if I don't remember a thing and wouldn't remember a thing if she didn't remind me. Stupid cow…"

"Hey, Saunders! Stop mumbling to yourself and get the hell back to work!"

He glanced up at his boss, narrowing his eyes in hatred as the man turned his back. What he needed was a break, something to take his mind off of Christmas and the mother that nagged him at every chance. The little things just weren't working anymore.

"Stupid cops. Stupid Christmas. Stupid, stupid cow."

"Saunders!"

* * *

"Gorgeous, I'm going to need your help."

Morgan looked up at Garcia's entrance, his face immediately lighting up at the spark of mischief that was lighting her eyes. He loved it when she was in a playful mood. And he was bored out of his mind. "Name it, Baby Girl."

"This place is dull."

Morgan raised an eyebrow, his face a very obvious 'no duh'.

"I have an idea, but I don't think the team will go for it."

He chuckled, turning his chair to face her instead of constantly looking over his shoulder. "I think you underestimate us. Now, what did you have in mind."

"Secret Santa."

His other eyebrow rose to met the first, his brain most definitely caught. "I'm listening."

* * *

It was going to be brilliant and it was going to get their attention. He was going to show the rest of them how Christmas was a terrible holiday and how people could have the worst Christmas. He was going to show them that he wasn't useless, that he was important enough to not just be a second thought, that he was better than getting a hangar or a pair of socks for Christmas.

He had it all planned in his head, the lyrics typed and printed on identical stationary, folded neatly and put in the envelope with the same name on the front. Now all he needed was a girl and he could start the next phase of 'Operation Destroy Christmas for Everyone'.

Though he'd never call it that.

"Stupid cow," he repeated to himself, cell phone clenched tightly in his hand as he made his way down the streets in Annandale, pacing, waiting, hoping.

"_Two hours, boy, you heard your mother. And I expect you to be able to carve the turkey this year without mangling it like last year. You're never going to make it on your own, no wonder you never bring anyone home for the holidays."_

* * *

Garcia grinned as she approached Emily, holding out a mug she'd stuffed with paper. "Pick one."

Emily looked up suspiciously as she stirred just that touch of milk into her coffee. "What for?"

"Just do it," Garcia urged, shaking the colourful mug.

"Not until you tell me what you're doing. I know you, Garcia."

Garcia pouted. "If you pick a name I'll tell you what it's for."

Emily rolled her eyes, but picked out a slip of paper. Unfolding it she read the name. Her eyes widened. "What are you doing?"

"Doing?" Garcia asked, looking innocent. She had tonnes of practice at the look so it wasn't difficult to pull off. "What makes you think I'm doing anything?"

Emily turned the paper to face the blond. "This is a Secret Santa isn't it? A rigged Secret Santa."

"Who said anything about it being rigged?" Garcia inquired, inwardly jumping for joy. This was going so much better than she'd thought! While she may have actually rigged everything, she never expected Emily to respond so perfectly. "Is there a problem with having el capitan as your 'person'?"

Emily sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat. "Not if you tell me Reid got JJ and JJ got Reid."

Garcia's grin made Emily feel just a little bit better. "Of course."

"Pen," Emily said, her eyes imploring the blond woman to listen. "Don't push it. Reid and JJ, okay, they aren't technically part of the same unit but…" She dropped her voice. "Nothing will happen," she said shaking the paper.

"Oh, honey, you have no faith!"

Emily sighed again as she watched Garcia flaunt away. "There's nothing to have faith in."

"Pessimistic thought."

Emily jumped, almost spilling coffee down the front of her and spun to face Morgan. "Jesus, you scared me!"

He gave her an apologetic smile. "It's Christmas."

"I didn't know elves played Cupid," Emily replied, her eyes darting from the dark brown of her coffee up to Morgan's face and back again in a split second.

Morgan chuckled. "It makes her life fun and interesting to do it. We all play along. Even your Hotch."

Emily's eyes widened. "Tell me it's not that obvious."

He chuckled. "We all know, just like we all know Reid and JJ just need to jump each other and get it over with."

She let out a breath of relief. "So as long as you're an outsider."

"If that's how you want to look at it. It wouldn't be the first time a unit dealt with fraternization and none of us would belief you want anything overly ambitious, no matter how aggressive you may be about moving up in the FBI."

She smiled at him slightly. "Sometimes, you know too much for anyone's good."

From his office, Aaron Hotchner watched the exchange with a curious eye.

* * *

He knew what he was going to do and he knew how he was going to do it. He'd picked everything out. They'd have to notice him now. But first, he'd ensure the latest lyrics got to the people they were supposed to. It wasn't difficult to anonymously drop the envelope off where someone was bound to see it and take it right to them.

Then he'd sit and wait until tomorrow, until he had time and could make sure everything was right.

He'd show the stupid cow how he could _really_ ruin Christmas.

* * *

"Garcia come on! Let me pick a different name!"

"Not a chance G-man. You picked Jayje, you stick with it," Garcia contradicted.

Reid winced. "I wouldn't even know where to start!"

"Not true and you know it. You know more about her than any of us, well, more of her likes and dislikes anyway. You were the one that knew about the butterflies," Garcia pointed out.

"But a present? I've never gotten, well, anyone but my mother a present."

"This is an excellent place to start then, good doctor. You know JJ, you'll be fine." She patted his cheek affectionately.

"You rigged this," he accused.

"Honey, of course I did. But with help."

"So you have Morgan then."

She nodded, not even bothering to deny it. "Of course."

He narrowed his eyes. "Not fair! You and Morgan exchange presents all the time!"

She chuckled. "Every Christmas, yeah."

"Garcia!"

"Not going to happen. You are her Secret Santa. Now make sure you get my girl something good!"

* * *

This wasn't exactly the first present Hotch had thought of getting when Garcia approached him with the names for Secret Santa. In fact, he had hoped the rest of the team was right and the lyrics were nothing. But the snowflake envelope on his desk told him otherwise.

He was a little apprehensive to open the envelope really, since he was pretty sure he already knew what was inside it. He'd hoped, just this once, Emily was wrong and it wasn't going to be their next case. He had so hoped.

It wasn't coming true.

_Waiting for Santa to arrive  
And all the love will show  
'Cause everybody knows  
It's Christmastime and  
All the kids will see  
The gifts under the tree_

* * *

_**Song is Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday by N'Sync.**_ _**I wasn't sure this one was going to be as obvious!**_


	6. Last Christmas

**December 6, 2007**

While the team continued to celebrate the distinct lack of cases, Emily continued to agonize over the lyrics. She'd learned to trust her gut on these things, learned to look at the abnormal behaviour or anomalies in cases instead of the things that were consistent. So what had happened to the lyrics for the second day?

"Come on, Em, be happy," Morgan cajoled. "The backlog we've had for the last couple of months is done, Christmas is coming and, if all works in our favour, we could actually be off for Christmas this year."

"'Off' is a relative term," she reminded him absently. "I'm going to be here on Christmas."

"No family thing?" Morgan asked in surprise.

"No thank you. I don't need to go to a formal dinner." It was the downside to being an ambassador's daughter. Christmas had gotten scrapped many times when she was a child, her father the only one that made a note to be there when she opened presents.

"Formal dinner? You're kidding me, right?"

Emily shook her head. "Full ball gown, make up, hair… It's too much work to put into playing nice with diplomats for a night. What about you?"

"I go home for Mom's birthday, so I work Christmas Eve."

She smiled slightly. "Hypocrite."

"Hey, my family doesn't live in DC. They live in Chicago."

He made a good point so she turned her attention to the youngest member. "Reid?"

The owlish blink spoke volumes of how engrossed he'd been in one of his many true crime novels. He got a kick out of picking out the problems.

"What are you doing for Christmas?" Morgan supplied, stepping in to save the poor genius.

"Working."

Emily and Morgan exchanged a look, then burst out laughing. "We're a pathetic bunch," Emily said once her laughter had subsided.

Morgan shrugged. "Technically I work through the day. Garcia makes a mean ham dinner."

Emily raised an eyebrow. "And you harass Reid about asking JJ out." Her implication was obvious.

Morgan chuckled self-deprecatingly. "Hey, you guys know the baggage that comes with this job."

"Not even close to good enough," Emily said, warming to the topic. "Garcia sees the same things we do."

"Not the same way we do," Morgan replied solemnly. "It's hard enough for her to look at them second hand, through the tapes she has to analyze, but she doesn't need the extra stress…"

"When has she ever asked you to share?" Reid spoke up, surprising both himself and the others.

"I… Never," Morgan admitted.

"Case closed."

"We have a case?"

It was Reid's head that snapped up almost violently at the new female voice. Emily and Morgan stifled laughter as they shook their heads.

"Didn't think so," JJ responded. "It wouldn't be fair for you guys to take over my job."

"Ah, you know we can't work a police department like you can," Morgan said with a charming smile.

"Nor would you want to," JJ answered. "You just don't have the smile to put them all at ease."

Morgan put on an exaggerated pout. "I can be just as charming."

"To a group of men?" JJ pointed out. "The majority of cops are still men, Morgan."

He mock shivered. "You make an excellent point."

"I thought so."

* * *

She was broken, traumatized and completely in fear of her life. Her hands clutched a crumpled envelope like it was her lifeline. Retrospectively, it very well could have been. The police station wasn't far and she ran as fast as she could, ignoring how torn up her feet got or how many times she stumbled and scraped her knee. All she could think about, was getting into the precinct.

Every eye was on her as she rushed in, eyes wild, hair a mess, clothing torn. She was vaguely aware that it didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened to her. It explained why a female officer was the one that approached.

"Sweetie? Why don't you come sit down?"

She shook her head vehemently. "This…" she managed, waving the paper clutched in her hand. "FBI."

The officer looked to the side. "The FBI, honey?"

"He told me… FBI."

"Okay," the officer placated immediately, wrapping her arms around the girl's shaking form. "We'll make sure it gets there. Can I get you a blanket?"

Relief washed over her as the envelope was taken from her hands and she almost sagged into the woman's arms. Maybe this would be the end of the whole thing.

"Sweetie, can you tell me what happened?"

Or not.

* * *

There was no way Jacob was going to entrust this trip to anyone but himself or Lindsay. It had been blind luck that their victim had stumbled into the precinct where he worked, though it kept with their theory that the guy would know the area well. Beside him, his partner shivered, even in the blasting heat of the car.

"Everything okay, Linds?" he asked, a little worried.

"Fine," she replied quickly, her eyes darting to the envelope her fingers were playing with.

"You can't lie to me," he reminded her. "What's up?"

"I just… that girl…"

He took her hand, squeezing it quickly. "Hey, she's going to be fine."

"Physically."

"It's not our job, Linds. Our job is to figure out who did that too her." It was all Jacob could offer. Neither of them had worked sex crimes, and really, neither of them intended to. It was difficult to see a live victim, someone who would remember every second of the trauma.

Lindsay shook herself once before breathing in and out. "Let's catch this bastard."

Jacob grinned as he turned into the FBI headquarters in Quantico. "That's what I thought."

* * *

Hotch was most definitely surprised to hear that two Annandale officers were hear to speak with the BAU and even more surprised when the agent that came to announce it presented him with an identical envelope to the last five. This one, however, was blood smeared and dirty.

_Merry Christmas, I wrapped it up and sent it  
With a note saying "I love you", I meant it  
Now I know what a fool I've been  
But if you kissed me now, I know you'd fool me again _

_Last Christmas I gave you my heart  
But the very next day you gave it away  
This year to save me from tears  
I'll give it to someone special_

Morgan and Emily looked up as he passed and part of Hotch hurt to see their faces drop. He paused only slightly as JJ guided a man and a woman into the bullpen, shooting his team a significant look. He watched Morgan's shoulders slump slightly before he and Emily, dragging Reid along the way, made their way into the conference room.

"Agent Hotchner, these are Detectives March and Wild, Annandale PD."

Hotch shook the offered hands, noticing how they both shook slightly. "You are the ones that delivered this envelope?"

It was the man that nodded. "A rape victim brought it in to us."

"Did you get anything out of her?"

"Not yet, they're working on it back at the station."

Hotch had to admit, despite how obviously shaken up the woman was, she spoke strong and clear. "Thank you for bringing this to us." He turned to go talk it over with the team.

"Agent Hotchner?"

"Yes Detective?"

"Why you?"

That question through his mind off a little bit. "I beg your pardon?"

"Why the FBI? Why not local PD?"

"I don't think I understand."

"Those lyrics, this rape, is linked to a series of vandalisms in our area. The same guy wrote Deck the Halls on the front windows of a whole street of houses after destroying everything Christmas. Why does our guy want these lyrics to go to you so badly?"

A million new things were running through Hotch's head with that new bit of information. This wasn't the first set of lyrics they'd missed. Emily had been right and something else had been happening, destruction of other things Christmas just like that picture.

"Detective, I think we need to talk."


	7. This Christmas

**December 7, 2007**

They'd been so incredibly close and JJ was no where near prepared to kiss her potentially quiet Christmas goodbye. In fact, if she got a hold of this unsub, not only would she arrest him for rape, she'd probably throttle him for making her work. There was really very little comfort in the fact that it was close to home.

Every member of the BAU was peeved at the idea of now having to work. Even the previously-bored Emily lamented the loss of the subdued bullpen. None of them wanted to work so close to Christmas on a case of a guy who'd been smart enough to evade police before. The fact that he hadn't committed a felony until the previous night went unacknowledged in her head.

"Rapid escalation," Reid murmured from beside her, his eyes quickly scanning the file in his lap. "Vandalism to rape. Why?"

JJ rolled her eyes, but left him be. By this point, she was not only used to Reid's eccentricities – his abnormally high IQ, abnormally fast reading speed, his habit of spouting off the most random information at the most random of times – but she could admit she actually found them endearing. Though never in a million years would she admit it out loud.

Their SUV pulled up behind the one carrying Hotch, Emily and Morgan and JJ cut the engine, looking over to the genius. "We're here. You been through the whole thing?"

"Eight times," he admitted sheepishly. "And I still don't understand why he's escalating so quickly.

"I don't understand what he could have against Christmas," JJ answered as she unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the door.

"No one understands that," Morgan responded, having overheard JJ's statement. "I mean, it's Christmas."

"Christmas is over-commercialized," Reid said, tucking the file into his bookbag. "An excuse to get things you can't afford yourself by asking it from others. It's a selfish holiday."

Each one of them looked scandalized, even Emily, who had long since given up the ideal views of Christmas. It was JJ who responded. "What kind of Christmas do you celebrate?"

"Prove me wrong," Reid challenged, his eyes fixed on hers.

"What about wrapping presents for needy kids, or creating Christmas boxes for families?" she asked. "People do that every year."

"To make themselves feel better about everything they can already afford," Reid contradicted.

"What about reading at youth centres or volunteering your time at an old folks home?"

"Again, placating for what you already spend."

JJ raised an eyebrow. "So what you're basically telling me is that I'm totally selfish."

Reid's eyes opened wide. "I didn't say that!"

"You implied it. We do all of those things," she said, waving to the team that had moved on ahead into the precinct. "Morgan reads to kids at youth centres every Christmas. Emily, Garcia and I always go and wrap presents and I pull together two or three Christmas boxes from my apartment complex every year. Christmas is commercialized for the people who don't care, but it's unfair to make a generalization about everyone."

Reid blinked as JJ turned on her heels. "JJ!"

The blond turned.

He played with the strap of his book bag, eyes on the pavement. "Will you take me to some of those?"

JJ's blue eyes sparkled as she smiled. "Sure thing, Spence. As soon as this Scrooge is behind bars."

Reid grinned a she jogged to catch up. "Did you know some thing Charles Dickens based some of Scrooge's views off of political economist Thomas Malthus?"

JJ rolled her eyes as she pulled open the door.

* * *

Little John was an orphan and had been since he could remember. It didn't matter much to him though, because he'd found his own little family in the walls of St Francis Parish Orphanage. He had a handful of brothers and a handful of sisters. It worked for him. 

His favourite time of year was, by far, Christmas. They didn't get many gifts, because there were too many children, but John knew that every year Father Christmas showed up and dropped off something that sure made the headmaster happy.

One of John's favourite past times was just watching. He watched the people along the streets as they bustled by, he watched the lights of the houses across the way go out as the older children got into bed. He watched the street lights flicker and the wind blow snow into the lamplight.

So he was watching when a man showed up at the door of the headmaster's house and lean over. The door opened under his hand and John gasped, surprised that someone had broken into the Head Building. He immediately shook the bed beside him, his friend Robbie. "Wake up, wake up! Someone just broke into the Head Building!"

Robbie groaned and rolled over, blearily looking at John in the dark. "What are you still doing awake?" Robbie asked, his words slurring with exhaustion.

John ignored the question. "Someone just picked the lock on Headmaster Martin's house!"

"What are you talking about? No one comes around here at night. Go to bed." Robbie promptly rolled over, pulled the covers over his head and started to snore.

John moved on to the bed on the other side of his. "Nicky! Nicky wake up! Someone broke into the building across the street."

Nicky didn't even budge.

So John took it into his own hands to investigate. He threw on his coat and grabbed a pair of socks. On went his boots, hat, scarf and mittens. As quietly as he could, not wanting to wake any of the other children, he made his way down the halls.

"What are you doing out of bed so late, son?" John blinked up at the night guard, a jolly man with a large smile. "And with all of your gear on too."

"I saw someone break into Headmaster Martin's house, sir," John repeated for the fourth time.

"Well that's not something for little 'uns like you to worry about. You go back to bed and I'll go check it out."

John nodded and headed back up the stairs.

In the morning the news spread fast.

Father Christmas was dead.

* * *

"Rape and murder in 48 hours," Emily said as she ducked under the crime tape Hotch held for her. It surrounded an old brick building, part of an orphanage form what she'd managed to extract out of the officer that had escorted them to the crime scene. "Escalating is an understatement." 

Jacob met them at the front door. "Joshua Avellino, 72. According to the head of the orphanage, Alan Martin, Mr Avellino donated about 500 000 dollars to the orphanage at Christmas and then again at Easter."

Only experience and sheer force of will kept the little breakfast down that Emily had eaten earlier at the precinct. "Murder is an understatement."

Blood covered the room, which in itself was not particularly surprising for they'd seen and dealt with worse. The boy was in bed, most of the internal organs actually removed and spread all over the man's stomach and chest. If Emily hadn't seen things like this in the past, she probably would have had to turn away. As it was, most of the local officers couldn't stay in the room that long.

"He's angry. This is blind rage."

"This is brutality," came Morgan's voice from the doorway. "And of a good man too. Five-hundred grand isn't pennies."

Hotch moved forward, picking up the envelope tucked under Avellino's head. He read:

_Showed me a picture that he drew the night before  
Was a picture of a man standin' outside a door  
I asked him who it was and he said someone I only see in dreams  
Comforts me when I cry myself to sleep_

_Father of the fatherless  
Be with your sons and daughters this Christmas  
This Christmas_

"Now he's taunting us," Jacob said indignantly, his eyes studiously avoiding the body as the coroner came in to take it away.

"He's been taunting us from the beginning," Hotch replied, looking around the room. "All of this happened with others in the house, and no one saw or heard anything?"

"The security guard said a boy came down to investigate a man at the front door," Lindsay offered. "We haven't talked to him."

Emily, Hotch and Morgan exchanged a glance. Emily and Hotch moved off, back out the door just as Reid was on his way up. JJ was on her cell phone in front of the house.

"Media's going to have a field day with this."

"Mr Avellino was well-known, especially for his donations to kids in need," Lindsay provided as she caught up with Hotch and Emily. "I'll go with you guys, talk to the kid."

JJ looked frazzled and Hotch put a hand on her shoulder. "You're doing great, just keep doing whatever you can."

They made their way across the street to the building that housed all of the junior kids. The security guard was waiting in the foyer. "You look mighty official."

"We're with the FBI," Hotch introduced. "We're here to talk to the boy who saw—"

The security guard was nodding. "Right this way. Johnny's a good kid, never made any trouble. Last night was his first night out after curfew since he was a baby headin' for the bathroom."

Emily smiled as she kept pace with the jolly man. "He's a good kid."

"He is," the man agreed. "Always helpin' other kids, always bein' nice, always a good kid. A little spacey at times, but all kids are like that these days."

Johnny was sitting on his knees, his face pressed to the window that looked across the street. He couldn't see anything beyond the cops going in and out of the building, but he watched anyway.

"Johnny! People here to talk to ya."

The boy whipped around, immediately dropping to his behind and sitting perfectly.

"Hey bud," Hotch began, pulling out his badge and handing it to the boy.

"FBI," Johnny repeated as his finger traced the letters. "Why is the FBI here?"

"A man died last night, Johnny. Do you know anything about that?"

Johnny's gaze switched to Emily as she took a seat on his other side. "Are you FBI too?"

"I sure am," Emily agreed with a soft smile. "Can you tell us what you saw?"

"I tried to wake up Robbie and Nicky, but they didn't want to look and see," he said. "I just saw a man at the door. He opened it and went inside, but no one goes in and out of the Head Building after big kid lights out."

"No one?"

Johnny shook his head vigorously. "I heard it was because even the Heads are scared of the monsters that come out at night."

Hotch had to hide a smile as he met Emily's gaze over the child's head. "Johnny," he said, bringing the boy's attention back to him. "I need you to tell me exactly what you saw."

"A man," Johnny repeated. "But he didn't see me, 'cause I'm always watching and no one notices when I just watch. And I dunno what he did, but he got the door open, then he was inside. When he went inside, I tried to get Robbie and Nicky up. When they didn't wake up, I went downstairs."

Hotch smiled. "Thanks, Johnny. You've been a big help."

Johnny scampered off the couch, dropping both badges on the cushion as he went. "Robbie and Nicky will never believe I got to meet real FBI agents!"

* * *

_**Tad bit of JJ/Reid and then a cute kid. Song is This Christmas (Joy to the World) by TobyMac. And this is a ridiculously long chapter! Funny enough, I got writing a different story and almost forgot!**_


	8. Grandma Got Runover by a Reindeer

**December 8, 2007**

He breathed in deep, his nostrils filled with the odour of horse and the city streets as they clamoured along. It had felt good to watch her eyes widen, to see her fall. It was really too bad it wasn't that foul cow he wished it was.

He pulled up to the spot he'd left the man that owned the horse and buggy he was currently using and shuffled down off the high seat. He'd had to pay a pretty penny for it, but it had been worth it. He felt much calmer now, much more like he could continue on his way and_maybe_ make it through Christmas.

He returned the reigns and went on his way, whistling under his breath. Christmas wasn't turning out to be so bad after all.

* * *

They were all gathered around a conference table in the Annandale police department, pouring over files and pictures and statements. 

"The only thing we have linking these crimes are the lyrics," Morgan pointed out.

"But it's a distinct signature," Reid contradicted. "He enjoys taunting us, he needs it."

"For a mental release, I hope," JJ said wryly. She'd been working with them long enough to know some of the subtle intricacies. Not to mention her own necessity for understanding people when corralling police departments and the press.

"What's the victimology in raping a woman then killing a humanitarian?" Emily added. "And the age range…"

"He doesn't have a type," Morgan said. "He kills based on…"

"The lyrics," Hotch said, his voice surprisingly firm. "Everything he's done has been based on the lyric's he's sent us."

"But we get the lyrics afterwards, what help is that?" Emily said, dropping into a chair. "None of this makes sense. We're never going to get ahead of this guy."

"We can't even give them a proper profile with what we know," Morgan added.

"Well what do we know?" Hotch asked, looking up.

"He hates Christmas," Morgan started, pulling out a seat for himself.

"He escalated rapidly, vandalism, rape, murder," Reid added. "He's organized, his crimes are methodical, thought out. He strikes at night when no one can see him, but he taunts law enforcement."

"Excuse me agents," Lindsay poked her head in with a rueful smile. "We've got another body."

* * *

"See?" Carrie said as she and her brother wandered through an Annandale mall. "Christmas isn't always so bad?" 

He sighed as she followed her, looking for presents for their family and her friends. "It's too bright and it's too cheery for the Christmas I remember."

Carrie sighed. "You have to let it go. Mom's always anxious at Christmas, she always wants everything to go right. We're all the same way when we're nervous."

"But she doesn't pick on you," he pointed out. "You're the perfect one, you're the one that can do no wrong. If I'm one minute late with the cranberry sauce, she'll have my head. I hate Christmas."

"You're a Grinch," Carrie laughed. "Or Scrooge, I haven't officially decided. Now come on, I have the perfect present for Mom."

* * *

"How old is that woman?" Emily asked in disgust as they took in the scene. She was bruised, trampled, and lying in the middle of a small residential street. 

"83. Agents, meet Poppy Charles, grandmother to six adorable grandkids and three children herself. She left her son's home around nine o'clock last night after her husband had passed out from eggnog," Jacob introduced, his notepad between his hands.

"She always walk home by herself?" Morgan asked, his eyes taking in the details around the scene.

"Family says she walked home all the time, night or day. They only live a couple of doors down," Jacob responded. "It wasn't that big of a deal to the family."

Morgan sighed. "One night and it all goes."

"Is this a hoof mark?" Reid asked in surprise as he leaned over the body.

The coroner looked up at him. "There's marks on the back too," she said, holding out a pair of gloves for Reid. They pushed the body over and Reid's hands drifted over the Santa Claus marks.

"Can you tell if these are pre or post mortem?"

"Not until I get her back for autopsy. This was tucked under her head."

Reid took the evidence bag holding the snowflake envelope and the other one with the lyrics and headed back to the team and the detectives. "I don't know this one."

Emily couldn't help snorting as she read the lyrics. "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer." It sparked a flurry as the others clamoured to see for sure.

_Grandma got run over by a reindeer  
Walking home from our house Christmas Eve.  
You can say there's no such thing as Santa,  
But as for me an' Grandpa, we believe._

_When we found her Christmas morning,  
At the scene of the attack  
She had hoof prints on her forehead,  
And incriminating Claus marks on her back._

"Well," Reid began. "The marks on her back were definitely Santa Claus."

"This is twisted," Morgan said, voicing everyone else's thoughts. "Just twisted."

* * *

_**This is short, I know, and I'm sorry, and I'm also well aware it's unfortunately late. However, the next chapter should be up before midnight EST. If not, just after!**_

_**Thanks to everyone that reviewed and told me my unsub was creepy. It makes my day to hear my goals are being met!**_


	9. Do You Hear What I Hear

**December 9, 2007**

"The marks on Poppy Charles were hoof marks," Lindsay said, entering the conference room, autopsy report in her hands.

"Seriously?" Morgan asked incredulously. "Like reindeer?"

"More likely horse," Lindsay responded, dropping the report on the table. "I did a little bit of research."

"In Annandale?" Reid questioned.

"They have horse and buggies around the Mall and Smithsonian. It wouldn't surprise me that in such a Christmas neighbourhood they have them lying around," Emily pointed out.

"So he's got access," Morgan replied.

"What about an elf that got shafted?" Emily asked. "Someone who worked in a Santa's village or helped out with Santa at a mall…"

"This guy isn't making any sense. None. We've got nothing." Morgan was getting angry.

"Call Garcia," Hotch suggested, killing two birds with one stone. "See if she can find us any disgruntled elves or Santa's around the area or anyone who has blatantly shown a hatred of Christmas."

"You think this guy's got access?" Morgan asked already flipping the phone open to dial.

"Or something," Hotch replied.

"You guys rushed away at Christmas, is this good?"

Morgan chuckled at the pout he could hear in Garcia's voice. "We'll be back before you know it. You haven't gotten anything from your Secret Santa?"

"You would know the answer to that one Gorgeous. What can I do for you?"

"Can you find people who worked as elves or as Santa and my have had issues with it?"

"Define issues, Sweetness."

He could already hear her typing on the other end of the line. "Anything. Complaints filed against them, filing complaints… Anything that would make our guy hate Christmas enough to kill people to Christmas carols."

"I don't know, Sugar. There's a lot of people here and around the area that have complained about one thing or another."

"Anything jump out at you?"

"One guy actually destroyed a Santa's Village display, another attacked a Santa on the street… you'd be surprised at the number of people who have desecrated a Christmas-y symbol."

"Come on, Baby Girl, I know you can get me something," he pushed. "What about people who would have access to horses."

"Horses?" she asked. "What kind of a guy are you following."

"A twisted one," Morgan responded. "Anything?"

"Here's one, Chuck Morris. He was an elf for a few years, but they let him go one year because he came to work drunk… hasn't been suitably employed since and was arrested for breaking and entering and vandalism of his neighbour's home last year. Looks like the neighbour's a real Christmas nut. He's been working for a company that provides some of the carriages down by the mall."

"See? I knew you could do it. Oh, and Pen?"

"Mmhmm?"

"You're Santa's been busy. Later, dollface."

* * *

The Mall was gorgeous, as it generally was around Christmas time and Emily had absolutely no problem making the trek into the city to track down their guy. Morgan had volunteered to go with her, but Hotch had stepped in, surprising both herself and Morgan. Now, she sat in the passenger's seat of one of the black SUVs as he drove across the bridge into the nation's capital.

To see The Mall at Christmas was not something that was spectacularly new. Her apartment gave her a lovely view of the whole thing and around Christmas, she often moved her furniture around just so she could sit and watch the lights to unwind after a day at the office. Still, as it did every time she caught a glimpse, it took her breath away.

"What was the cross street for Chuck Morris?" Hotch asked, breaking her thoughts.

"The buggies around the Mall and the Smithsonian don't usually have a particular spot. If the horses get restless, they move around," she said absently, most of her attention still on the mall. She loved Christmas lights. It was her favourite part of Christmas.

The only thing they had as they wandered through the shovelled walks, was a DMV photo Garcia had sent them. They walked side-by-side, close enough to ward off some of the winter chill and yet far enough to give themselves peace of mind. She grabbed his hand suddenly, her eyes fixated on a man off to her right. As the closest one to the outside, she had the better view and as their gazes locked, he knew she'd found the guy.

But the air between them had already shifted the minute her fingers touched his. Sure, the connection was through the leather of his gloves and the knitted wool of her mittens, but it was contact nonetheless, contact they both seemed to be feeling vividly as they stopped. It was a couple of kids racing past, bumping into Emily's legs that shocked them back to the present and the work they were doing. However, they also managed to knock her off balance and she would have tumbled to the snow if it weren't for his quick reflexes. As it was, and as a result of their 'moment' seconds earlier, he let her go almost as soon as she'd gotten her footing back.

They strolled across the snow until they reached Chuck Morris' side.

"Mr Morris," Hotch called up.

"Dude, you aren't supposed to know my name. Who are you?"

"We're FBI—" Hotch had barely gotten the 'F' out before Morris was scrambling down from his seat.

Emily groaned. "I hate it when they run." But then she was off, actually ahead of Hotch as she wove in and out of the busy city streets. She had to hold in a belly laugh when Morris hit a patch of black ice on the sidewalk, skidded and then fell unceremoniously on his tail. He was stunned and it gave her and Hotch a few minutes to catch up. "We're not going to arrest you," she said as Morris tried to scramble away. "We just want to ask about the whereabouts of you and your horses last night."

Morris blinked. "My horses? What's that got to do with the FBI?"

"Just answer the question," Emily said impatiently. "Or I will cuff you." It was an empty threat, but he didn't need to know that.

"I was at home, my neighbours can attest to that if they're not stoned. The super saw me come in."

"When?"

He shrugged. "'Round eleven."

The coroner had put time of death somewhere between ten and midnight, but factoring in the time to return the horses and get to his home in Falls Church wouldn't give him enough time. Still, they had to cover all of their bases. "Did you go out after that?"

"No way. I try and make it out here early to get the best spot down by Smithsonian Metro, Jefferson and 12th. Means I've got to get up about seven. Look, I have to sign my horses in and out and a stable hand puts all the stuff on for us. We're just the drivers," Morris said, holding up his hands.

Emily sighed as she turned to the man beside her, a message passing between them, They'd check on his alibi, but they were pretty sure this wasn't there guy.

"That's it?" Morris called as the agents walked away.

"Yeah. You might want to make sure your horses are still there." This time Emily did laugh as he rocketed past them. Then she looked up at the man walking beside her. "Tell me this doesn't mean we have to check every single guy to see if he let some guy borrow his horses."

"I hadn't thought of that," Hotch admitted. "But it's a good idea."

Emily sighed. It was going to be a cold couple of hours.

* * *

JJ watched the evening news report, her eyes fixed on the screen. It was one thing she made sure to do when they were on a case. She watched each edition of it, and picked up every paper she could so she could keep track of what the media knew. It was where Reid found her, eyes glued to the television.

The room division was simple. If there were rooms of double beds, Emily and JJ shared, as did Reid and Morgan. Hotch, it was decided because he was the team leader, would get a roommate when he got a new partner. One thing Reid, Morgan, Emily and JJ tried to do, for safety as much as for an ease at trading information, was get rooms with adjoining doors. Then, so long as one wasn't showering, changing, or sleeping, they often left the door open. They were family like that.

Reid knew JJ and thus, didn't say a word until the final credits started to roll. "Anything interesting?"

"Nothing about our killer, thank goodness. I don't think the media knows about the lyrics," she answered, relaxing back onto the bed. What she really wanted was her own bed and a nice hot bath, but she wasn't sure she could afford it right now. "What about that genius brain of yours? Come up with anything that may help us catch this guy in time to watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

"Fitting movie for the situation," he said.

JJ nodded, her eyes closing. They flew open suddenly. "Tell me you've seen it."

"The Grinch?" Reid asked.

JJ nodded again. "Please tell me you've seen it."

"I've seen it," Reid parroted.

"Are you serious?"

"No."

"No wonder you are so Christmas lacking! Spencer Reid, you and I are going to go find a copy of How the Grinch Stole Christmas and I mean the animated one, not the live action, Jim Carrey version." She was up and grabbing her shoes before Reid really had a chance to understand what was going on. "Grab your shoes, come on!"

Reid sighed, knowing there was nothing else he would be doing. When she smiled like that, he had little choice.

* * *

Emily was cold.

_My ears are froze and my toes are froze and my tail is froze and my nose is froze_, she repeated to herself, one of her most memorable and favourite lines from a Disney movie. And Disney seemed rather appropriate for the time. Hotch had made the mistake of allowing her to drive and so, she navigated the familiar streets to her own apartment. The team would have gone to bed by now and there was very little they could do at the station except file their notes with the rest of the case material. They'd gotten nothing from all of their walking.

Well, except her frozen tail from where she'd slipped and fallen in the snow. She loved Christmas, and most of the time loved winter, but she'd been walking around Washington DC with a wet rear and freezing toes and was now, a little cranky.

Hotch looked up as the SUV pulled to a stop and then turned his gaze on her in curiosity. "This isn't Annandale."

"It's Fort Myer Heights and I'm frozen. I'm going upstairs to grab myself some hot chocolate and maybe dunk my toes in a warm bucket of water, then we can head over to the hotel." Her tone was one that brooked no argument and the unbuckling of her seat belt was a dead giveaway that she wasn't joking.

He said nothing for a moment, then, "May I use your bathroom?"

She nodded as she got out of the car, her keys in hand as they made it up to her apartment. Her mind could still remember the last time he'd been there, standing in the middle of her kitchen trying to convince her to go on one last case in Milwaukee. Well, that one case had turned into her return to the BAU and she was still glad he'd convinced her.

She pointed him to the bathroom on the bottom floor and waited until the door was firmly closed before simply stripping off her wet pants. Leaving them at the door, too cold to care, she made her way up the stairs to remove a pair of comfortable black pants that still looked nice enough with her blouse. Not that she should care at this point. She peeled off her socks before padding over to her dresser to grab dry ones and changing her clothes. Dry pants on, she headed back downstairs, socks in hand.

He was out of the bathroom when she reached the kitchen and she watched as he leaned over to pick up her wet pants. He held them out to her and she draped them over her arm as she filled the electric kettle. "Some?" she asked.

"Sure," he agreed.

* * *

He hadn't planned on going out. Usually, with cases, they just stayed in a hotel because it was closer. Easier access, quicker time to get to wherever they needed to be. However, the wrapped box on the seat beside him had begged him to make the forty-minute trip back to Quantico to present Garcia with her first Secret Santa present.

_What a skewed Secret Santa_ he thought to himself with a chuckle. With JJ paired off with Reid and Emily and Hotch drawing each other's names, Morgan wasn't blind enough to think Garcia hadn't rigged her own choice. It didn't bother him, for who knew her better than he did? It made sense, if she wanted something good, to influence the name he picked as well.

Most of the building was silent as he made his way through the halls, but that didn't surprise him. For, even if everyone else had gone home, Garcia was an insomniac on cases. They'd called at all hours and been able to get her directly. It scared him a little bit to know, but she'd promised she got sleep sometimes. It just tended to elude her when she was working.

As it was apparently doing at that moment. "Baby Girl, you should be home," he called out to her from her doorway.

"Ah, but crime never sleeps. What are you doing all the way back here?" Not that she wasn't completely happy to see him. In fact, it was a more than welcome surprise.

"I had to drop a few things off from Annandale for the Quantico lab," he lied easily, "And I figured it was as good a time as any to hand over your first Secret Santa gift."

"Gorgeous, I'm supposed to guess who my Santa is," she responded with a smile, her hands reaching out for the red-wrapped box he now held in front of him.

"With you back here and me in Annandale, it wouldn't happen Princess."

He made a good point and she knew it, so she simply pouted at him before ripping into the paper. She grinned at what she pulled out. "Because an insomniac really needs coffee."

He chuckled. "Nah, what she needs is espresso from her favourite coffee place," he replied nodding towards the packaging. "Kate was nice enough to hand some of that over."

Garcia raised an eyebrow. Kate was a barista at the coffee shop she frequented with Morgan when they got a break, and she flirted with Morgan like crazy. She suspected it didn't take much for him to acquire the package now in her hands. "Do I want to know?"

He chuckled. "Goddess, does it really matter?"

She thought about it for a moment before a smile blossomed across her face. "Nope!" And it was true, for at the end of the day, it would always be the two of them. They were just that close, just that inseparable, and, she hoped, just that good for each other. "What about the others?"

* * *

JJ grinned as she mouthed the lyrics to the who song at the end of the movie, looking over at Reid with a contemplative look on his face. "It's not meant to be puzzled out, Spence," she scolded playfully. "It's meant to be enjoyed. Another Christmas tradition."

He still looked perplexed. "They live on a snowflake."

She sighed as she pushed herself into a full sitting position, crossing her legs as she turned to face him on the bed. She'd insisted it was big enough for both of them and so, they'd watched the movie side by side, shoulders occasionally brushing. "They live on a snowflake, one of them is green and they have funny noses, Spence!" she whined. "You're missing the point!"

"Christmas isn't about presents it's about people," he rattled off, his eyes still narrowed as the credits rolled. "It's oversimplified."

"It's not meant to be overanalyzed," she groaned. "It's for kids."

He looked down sheepishly. "I guess I'm not all that good at this Christmas thing."

"There isn't a 'Christmas thing', Spence. Everyone's Christmas is different."

Still, he didn't look up at her.

"Look, I promised to show you all about Christmas, right? Well here's something Christmas. It's fun, it's sweet, it's not meant to be a learning experience or something to be analyzed," she said, taking one of his hands in her own. 'Just enjoyed."

And Reid had to admit to himself, there, with JJ, he was enjoying himself.

* * *

Jacob hadn't gone home. Not only had there been no reason to head home to his silent apartment, but the lyrics were bugging him. The fact that this guy came back year after year bugged him even more.

He wasn't an overt fan of Christmas, but he wasn't a Grinch about it either. On the other hand, he had his few Christmas traditions he stuck with, and enjoyed, without going overboard. It was still an offence, and not just a legal one, to vandalize Christmas like this guy had been doing.

"You didn't go home?" Jacob looked up to see his partner setting a cup of coffee on her desk across from his.

"Nah. Probably wouldn't sleep much anyway."

She sighed as she dropped to her chair. "I know the feeling. I'm afraid we're going to miss something if we're not here."

On cue, something slid under the door of the bullpen, the sound of paper on the floor making more noise in the silence than usual. Jacob stood up to retrieve it. "Mail? At this hour?" Then he stepped closer. "Linds, grab me some gloves, would you?"

He donned the latex she presented him with and carefully slit open the envelope, pulling out the page inside. The lyrics were there, just as he'd thought.

_Said the little lamb to the shepard boy  
Do you hear what I hear?  
Ringing through the sky shepard boy  
Do you hear what I hear?  
A song, a song high above the tree  
With a voice as big as the sea  
With a voice as big as the sea_

"Another victim?" Lindsay asked, having read the words upside down as her partner held the paper. "Or a potential victim?"

Jacob sighed. "I don't know, but I'm calling Agent Hotchner."

* * *

The kettle sang just as Emily was returning from throwing her pants over the dry rack in her room. She'd taken her time while she was up there, pulling her hair back into a neat ponytail to keep it out of her face. Hotch had made himself at home on her couch at her invitation, his eyes now as fixed on the lights of Washington as hers were.

Hot chocolate was not difficult to make, nor did anyone ever have a real preference so she whipped up two ups with instant cocoa mix and carried his over. He accepted it with a thankful smile, watching as she curled herself into the corner of the couch. They sat in silence, both of them enjoying the lights for a few moments, no case, no unsub, just Christmas.

"Are you seeing Jack this Christmas?" Emily asked quietly. Over the year and a half since his divorce from Haley, both parties had negotiated a very loose contract as to custody. Haley had primary custody, and considering his job, that was okay with Hotch. He saw the boy whenever he could and had started taking weekends off to spend with him as Jack got older. Christmas last year, if she remembered, was disastrous and Hotch had stalked around the BAU for two weeks before everything got settled.

"Haley and I ironed out our arrangement early this year," he said with a nod, knowing that the team was well aware of why he'd been stormy the previous year. "I'll take Jack back to her place on Christmas Eve."

She smiled. "Christmas Eve was always big for my dad. My mom's gala would be a few weeks before, but Christmas day was for travelling to the homeless shelters and stuff. He always made a big deal about Christmas Eve for me." She figured if he was going to open up, it would only be fair for her to do the same.

"Christmas gala?" he asked, focusing his intense gaze on her instead of the lights.

Emily, however, kept hers on the scene. "Yeah. It was formal and uncomfortable and I spent most of my time holed up in my room or whatever room had been designated for kids until I was eighteen. Then I was old enough to play with the big kids."

He chuckled at her analogy. "I remember working one of those," he said after a moment. "But only one."

Emily chuckled. "They weren't fun."

"You hate politics," he agreed with a small smile.

"Exactly!" There was silence for a moment. "You can see the Capitol tree from here," she said softly, her eyes fixed in the distance.

"Where?" he asked, his own voice soft to match her own.

"There," she replied, pointing through the window. "All white lights."

He leaned over to the line of her arm, following it to the tree. He heard her breath catch in her throat and the heat of her body inches from his. He turned to face her. "It's beautiful."

Emily knew the phrase had more meaning than he was letting on and blushed, but she didn't move an inch. Her eyes stayed on his as he moved closer and closer.

Then his cell phone rang.

He looked as disappointed as she felt as he pulled away to answer it. "Hotchner." After a few minutes and a few noncommittal sounds, he hung up. Meanwhile, she'd picked up his mug and hers and carried them to the sink. They could be washed out thoroughly later, but they needed to be at least rinsed.

"More lyrics showed up at the precinct," he said, moving to stand beside the counter. "I'm going to call the team, get us all back to take a look at them.

Emily nodded, trying to put on a professional face and not be effected by what had just almost happened. They were out of the door a few minutes later and at the front of the precinct in half an hour. She moved to get out, having endured one of the quietest most awkward car rides of her life, when Hotch caught her hand.

"We're not done," he said, his eyes speaking volumes for what he didn't say.

Emily shivered but said nothing else as they made their way into the station. After all, even if they could steal little moments, someone was still out there. And he was going to kill again.

* * *

_**So…**_ _**I'm not sure there was enough personal relationships in there (laughs) This one morphed way out of my control and is 7 pages, Arial 9 font (equates to about 3900 words) so this is by far my longest chapter. **_

_**I'm sure you all noticed this was largely a Emily/Hotch based chapter, so for those of you who tend to lean more towards Morgan/Garcia or JJ/Reid, I feel like I should tell you that you need not worry. Each pairing has their own chapter coming up, but Emily and Hotch seem to need the biggest build up and I find them partially the hardest to write.**_

_**And**_ _**it's technically half an hour overdue but as you can see from the size, it really couldn't be helped! I'm off to write a public law exam! Hope you enjoyed this!**_


	10. Angels We Have Heard On High

**December 10, 2007  
**_Sunrise_

He hated that they had to be on call at all times, especially when it interrupted his one on one time with Penelope Garcia. It was an unfortunate downside of the job that he was particularly unimpressed with as he took the forty minute drive back to Annandale. He was going to throttle Hotch, metaphorically speaking, when he got there.

And he certainly hoped to all that was good and holy this was good.

He had to admit, he took comfort in the fact that everyone else was already there and looked just as annoyed as he was. Well, except for Prentiss, who was standing in the furthest corner from the group and seemed a little out of sorts. He made a beeline for her.

"Everything okay?" he asked softly.

Emily sighed. They'd developed a very brother-sister camaraderie over their years in the Bureau and Emily figured that if she couldn't share something with him at this point, she wouldn't be able to share things with anyone. "Nothing."

Morgan raised an eyebrow. "I'm supposed to believe that?"

"Drop it, Morgan," Emily growled, crossing her arms petulantly.

"Uh huh," Morgan said, shaking his head. "Another time it is. Hey Hotch, why are we all here?"

Hotch passed around a photocopy. "These are all of the lyrics we've collected plus the new ones Detective Marsh got just a few minutes ago."

"_Do You Hear What I Hear?_ What does that have to do with anything?" Morgan asked.

"We have no idea, that's why we're here," Hotch replied. "It could be another victim."

"Another one? And he's warning us? Why would he do that?" Morgan asked. "I thought he reacted."

"So did we," Emily said. "He seems to have changed his mind."

He raised an eyebrow at her. It seemed like she was a little more on edge than usual. "So what've w got?"

"Just the lyrics," JJ sighed. "And that's the problem."

* * *

They were up the rest of the night going over and over each and every word of the lyrics they possibly could. Still, nothing jumped out at them, and the fact that the crimes were so different and sporadic made each member of the BAU a little bit worried. 

Jacob sighed as he hung up the phone, another tip going cold. They needed more coffee. Lots more coffee. With breakfast. Eggs, or even better, a ham, cheese and onion omelette with bacon and to—

"Marsh!"

Jacob's head snapped up from where he'd momentarily rested it on his arms, the same time he saw Lindsay's do the same thing. "Lieutenant?"

"Ashley Myers was found an hour ago by her pastor. You might want to go take a look at this."

Jacob sighed as Lindsay took the small paper, address scribbled across it. "Any ideas, sir?"

"He's your guy."

* * *

_Around Mid Morning_

Morgan ran a hand over his head as he stood at the foot of the small body in red-drenched snow. Her wings were made of snow, as in snow angels. Children, children were always the worst. "It's one thing to destroy Christmas," he said, speaking to the team gathered around him. "But this goes above it all."

Emily was shaking her head, her hands cross in front of her to keep them from shaking too. "A girl."

"She's what? Six?" JJ asked rhetorically.

"Eight, actually," came Jacob's exhausted voice. "She sang in last night's concert and that's the last anyone remembers seeing her."

"What did she sing?" Reid asked.

"That," Lindsay responded, coming up beside her partner. Her hand waved at the angel at the girl's head. On it, were two lines:

_Angels we have heard on high  
__Sweetly singing o'er the planes_

"Pastor Sparrow says she sang and went off stage. Her parents mentioned she was supposed to be staying over at someone's house over the pageant, but apparently little Ashley wasn't feeling well so she'd talked about cancelling. The family, the Grahams, assumed she'd just gone home. Pastor Sparrow wanted to be the one to tell Ashley's family."

Hotch nodded. "JJ, go with them. Families are your thing."

"Will do." JJ nodded, smiling thinly. Inside, she was rather thankful that Hotch had sent her away. Small bodies like that haunted her nightmares much longer than the rest of the team. It was a known fact, especially since so many of the others could compartmentalize better than she could.

"A child. He's got nothing. What on earth could have done him in like this?" Emily asked softly, her voice only loud enough to be heard by the others.

"Something particularly stressful," Reid said. "A high stress job plus a stressor?"

"He must have planned this though. The stressor would have been yesterday," Morgan pointed out as he took a wide parameter around the body. "Yesterday's lyrics fit perfectly with today's."

"Do you hear what I hear, a song," Hotch agreed, nodding. "He must have known about last night's pageant."

"One stab, the back," came the voice of the man crouched beside the victim. "Liver temp is going to be a little bit off because she's been in the cold like this."

"No time of death, snow is going to give us nothing but footprints," Morgan groaned.

Hotch placed a hand on Morgan's shoulder. "Check and see if Garcia came up with any connections between the victims. Have her add Ashley Myers and her family to the mix."

Morgan sighed and stepped away, leaving Hotch, Emily and Reid standing over the body. His fingers didn't bother dialling all of the number. Garcia had been number two on his speed dial – behind only his home number in Chicago – since he could remember. The phone rang in his ear less than once before she picked up.

"Where on earth did you get that tea?" came the overly pleased voice.

_So not the time,_ his mind groaned. "It's a secret, Baby Girl, you know that. That's the 'secret' part of the Secret Santa."

"Gorgeous, you don't sound so hot," Garcia said, used to a more flirty nature in him than he was presenting. "Everything okay?"

"Ashley Myers." He heard the clicking of the keys.

"Eight year old musical protégée. Sings mostly in church choirs… She's been in a huge number of newspapers. You looking for something specific?"

"Is there a connection between her and our other victims?"

"Peaches, you sound down. What's going on?"

"It's not good, Pen."

Garcia considered herself smart under most definitions, so it didn't take her long to figure out what Morgan was fussing about. "Oh my God."

"I'm sorry, sweetheart."

"Oh my God. Are you okay?"

He blinked for a moment. He'd just told her a girl had died and her first reaction was to worry about him? "I'm fine."

"Derek Morgan, you are not okay! You didn't get a chance to sleep because you were here and then you drove all the way back to Annandale. And you've never…"

"Pen, It's… Normal. I'm… I'm good."

She sighed. "There's nothing here, sweetness," she said apologetically. "There's no link."

"There's got to be something," he said. "Their families?"

"Derek, I'm sorry." And she sounded truly like it. "I have something for you though."

He knew the point was to cheer him up, to take his mind off of things for a few moments, but right now, he wasn't sure there was anything that would bring him out of his funk but a little bit of sleep and then maybe a good conversation with the blond at Quantico. "And I'm curious to see it."

"You don't sound like it."

The pout he could hear through the phone made him chuckle. It was a welcome change. "I promise when I manage to get an hour or two of sleep, I will be suitably excited."

His next words sounded smug. "I really am the best."

"At what, Mama?"

"Making you laugh."

Who was he to argue with that.

* * *

**_So... I know I'm four days late with this and I'm so so so so so sorry about that. I had the hardest time writing this chapter in between studying all of the stuff for my exam on Thursday, so this is the first solid time I've gotten to start the whole thing over again. _**

**_And I'm technically without my baby (my laptop) because I left my power cord at school. We shall see... I may be getting one tomorrow. When I get my baby back, and assuming I can actually break from studying every once in a while and I keep up the inspiration that had me plan out the last couple of chapters I was missing!_**

**_Everyone who reviews gets a cookie!_**


	11. Baby, It's Cold Outside

**December 11, 2007**

Reid looked up as the next person entered the conference room and almost swallowed his tongue. JJ had always been beautiful to him, sleep deprived, stressed, whatever. The JJ that entered the room, however, was one he'd only seen twice before, once in North Mammon, and once more, the first time she saw him after Henkel. He was not a fan of this particular JJ.

The bags under her eyes were skilfully hidden by makeup, the redness that usually accompanied it hidden under the same. But it was the eyes that worried him most of all. They were all haunted by the things they saw, all affected brutally or otherwise, but the truly haunted look that darkened JJ was one that they only saw on the worst of cases.

"Good morning, JJ," he said carefully, eyeing the four cups of coffee she brought in with her.

JJ looked startled as she met his gaze. "I didn't think anyone else would be here."

He offered her a smile. "I didn't think anyone would be here for a while," he agreed.

She set the carryout tray down and pulled one out, taking three large gulps without a breath. "Find anything?"

Reid's gaze was not on the pages in front of him, however, but on the blond woman beside him. Their relationship had changed after Henkel and he liked to believe both of them were a little bit more open to sharing.

She turned her eyes to his, surprised that he was looking at her. "What?"

"Everything okay?"

"I hate profilers," she murmured, gracing him with a very tight smile.

For the time being, Reid let her go. "You were offered the job."

"Thanks, Hotch," she said, rolling her eyes.

"I see just as much as he does," Reid argued petulantly.

"Apparently," JJ agreed. "Case?"

"JJ-"

"The case, Spence, what is going on with the case?" JJ's eyes begged him not to ask any more questions.

"We've got nothing."

JJ sighed. "That's what I was afraid of.'

* * *

She tried to sleep, but it avoided her like the plague. Every time her eye s closed Ashley Myers was pasted across the insides of her eyelids, red blood spilling across the innocent white of her dress and the pureness of the snow.

The few minutes she did sleep were hell. Ashley's body morphed each time, into her niece, her sister, even a body that surprised her the first time it showed up: Spencer Reid.

The point was that sleep would not come. Not the sleep she needed anyway. Her soul deep sleep was haunted by the dead, by winter, and by blood. So instead, she stayed awake, looking at the ceiling, counting the tiles.

Emily hadn't stayed, preferring to head back to her own apartment for a bit, and to everyone's surprise, Hotch had gone with her, citing a distinct unwillingness for any of his team to be anywhere by themselves by working. It had spawned from Elle's death, that much JJ was sure of, and she respected him more for that. Morgan had driven back to Quantico at Garcia's urging, for what, JJ wasn't sure, but no one was going to argue with Morgan after Ashley's death.

Which left one person to go to, and if she was honest, she wasn't sure she'd want it any other way. She trusted Spence and she valued his friendship. So she threw off her blankets, getting out of bed and heading for the adjoining door between rooms.

Policy kept it unlocked. Her courage made her open it.

She made her way over to Spencer's bedside, taking a deep breath before gently shaking his shoulder. "Spence."

-----------------------------

The odd sensation of someone in his room prickled the back of his neck. He was a notorious light sleeper during cases, only sleeping deeply on the plane ride to and from the places they were to work. It was fine. He was used to sleeping lightly because of his mother and so he slept lightly now.

The presence moved closer to the bed. He'd realized that it could really be only one person, yet kept his eyes firmly closed. He had to admit, he wasn't surprised when he felt a delicate hand on his shoulder, shaking him. He played sleep for a second longer before he opened his eyes.

It took him a few minutes to adjust to the dim lighting of the room, but eventually her silhouette started to take shape and, eventually, colour. "JJ?"

"I'm sorry," she apologized immediately, "It's just…"

"I'm the only one here." He was surprised when she shook her head.

"Not completely," she admitted. "I just…"

He pushed himself up, dislodging her hand from where it had stayed on his shoulder. Instead, he took it, holding it tightly in one of his. "Can't sleep." He wasn't surprised.

Nor was she. "Yeah."

He moved over, making room for her to settle in beside him. It floored him when she moved quickly, swinging her legs up and resting her shoulder directly against his. His nerves kicked in almost immediately and thus, so did his nervous habits. "Did you know duelling is legal in Paraguay so long as both parties are registered blood donors?"

Her body shook with laughter, but she welcomed it with relish. "Tell me something else," she requested.

His head snapped around to face her. "What?"

"Tell me something else," she repeated, a smile on her face.

He'd never been requested to list off another random fact before. Usually she – and the rest of the team – found that particular habit and nervous tick. This had been the first time he'd been asked for an encore. "JJ?"

"Please, Reid? What else do you know?"

* * *

Hours later, he was completely surprised that she'd fallen asleep again and seemed, for all intents and purposes, to be sleeping soundly. Well, what surprised him more was the fact that JJ was snuggled up to him so tightly and he was very much awake.

Then she started to move. It started with a simple twitch that he chalked up to something she did in her sleep. A few minutes later, however, she moved again, a small painful sound coming from her lips. He got really concerned when she rolled right over and curled herself in a ball.

"JJ?"

She curled herself tighter and whimpered. Her hands curled herself even tighter.

"JJ, wake up."

Her next move almost threw him out of bed. Her whole body unclenched as she let out a cry. He just caught himself before tumbling off the bed, but JJ continued to thrash about. To save himself, he caught her hands carefully, forcing himself to roll over on top of her. "JJ!"

Her eyes popped open and Spencer clapped a hand over her mouth before she could scream. "It's me, it's Reid. It's Spence."

JJ blinked, tears leaking out o the corners of her eyes. Without thinking, his only reaction to comfort her, Spencer rolled over, making sure to hold her close to his body. JJ moved with him willingly, curling her hand in the t-shirt he was wearing. He hadn't realized his hand was soothingly running up and down her back until he started to feel her body relax against his.

"JJ?"

She raised her head slowly.

"Nightmare?"

"I'm sorry."

Spencer looked down at her. "Why?"

"I'm stronger than this. But Ashley Myers…"

Reid understood, to some degree. She was a kid. They all reacted violently to child cases. Some of them just hid it better than others, He didn't know what to tell her, what to do. Since she'd relaxed as his hand stroked her back, Spencer continued the gesture.

JJ hadn't known exactly what to expect when she woke up to find the adorably geeky genius above her, a hand clapped over her mouth, nor had she been sure what to expect when he rolled them over. She'd been pleasantly surprised by his reaction.

"Spence?" she said softly, feeling his breathing even out with hers.

His head tilted up.

JJ leaned up to kiss his cheek before settling comfortably back. "Thank you."

_I simply must go - Baby, it's cold outside  
The answer is no - Ooh baby, it's cold outside  
This welcome has been - I'm lucky that you dropped in  
So nice and warm -- Look out the window at that storm_


	12. The Christmas Song

**December 12, 2007**

_Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,  
__Jack Frost nipping at your nose_

He hadn't planned on going back to Quantico, but he couldn't concentrate on anything but seeing Ashley Myers in the snow. His first thought following his phone call with the team's technical analyst was how much he missed her. He'd made the decision to brave the snowy drive right when the team called it a night.

As he sat in 'their coffee shop' waiting for Garcia to show, he had to admit he certainly felt like he had made the right decision.

"Morning," Garcia greeted, only slightly less enthusiastic than usual. She was an insomniac, yes, but she needed a few hours of sleep now and then.

"Morning, Hot Stuff," he replied, his smile tired. "Your usual."

She grinned as she sat down and took a sip, relaxing back in her chair as the liquid flowed down her throat. She set the cup down and watched him for a moment, his long fingers drumming absently on his paper cup. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," he answered.

She raised an eyebrow. "Tone like that and you expect me to believe you? Derek, come on."

He managed a smile. "I don't want to talk about the case, Mama," he told her candidly. "What do you do around Christmas time?"

"Moi?" she said innocently. "What do you think?"

* * *

He'd been up most of the night, unable to sleep. It wasn't the couch's fault, for the first time in a long time. It was the case's fault. All he could think about was the Myers family and spending Christmas without their daughter. He tried to imagine what he would feel like if Jack died and the thought had haunted him throughout the night.

Aaron Hotchner didn't have nightmares, because he could never get to sleep to experience them. It was an unfortunate side effect of the job, nightmares were, but he rarely slept if a case was gruesome enough to spawn nightmares. And since Emily had told him to make himself comfortable in her apartment, he'd tried almost everything to get the images and thoughts out of his head so he'd sleep: hot milk, TV… nothing had worked.

When the sun started to rise, he gave up and simply watched it. Then he made coffee. And now, he was reading through the paper that had been dropped at her door, standing at the counter.

"Have you been up long?"

Hotch looked up at a still-groggy Emily as she padded towards him, still dressed her pyjamas, her hair thrown back in a ponytail. "No."

She narrowed her eyes. "I'm tired, not blind. Don't lie."

Right, profiler. Though he'd always thought he was better at hiding than that.

"Stop puzzling. How long have you been up?"

"Does it matter?"

He made a good point. "Coffee?"

He vaguely waved to the pot as he went back to reading the latest article on their case. "I think we need to get JJ running some media interference." He felt Emily step up beside him, could smell her as her shoulder brushed his.

She grimaced. "Seriously. Omelette?"

He turned his head, considering her for a moment. "Sure." He couldn't take his eyes off of her as she moved smoothly around the kitchen.

Emily looked up from the fridge. "Ham, cheese, onion?"

"Please."

* * *

There was something comfortable and warm underneath her.

And that something had a heartbeat.

If she'd been less exhausted, JJ probably would have shot upright, wondering what on earth was going on. As it was, her body protested even the slightest movement of her fingers. As a result, she was forced to take stock of her position as awareness slowly returned.

Her memory flooded back slowly and heat rose in her cheeks as it did. She couldn't believe she'd actually gone to Spencer Reid for comfort, not because she didn't think he could provide it, but because – upon some serious analyzing – could be read as a step closer to the more than friends she wanted.

Her body told her firmly she was way too warm and comfortable to move, and she had to admit, after hearing Reid list off some of the most random things she'd ever heard of, she'd slept soundly, interrupted only once by nightmares. Whether it was because she was exhausted or because she was _here_ was still to be determined.

Her first clue to her pillow's awake state was the distinct change in breathing patterns. She shifted, folding her arms across Spencer's chest and propping her chin on them. "Good morning," she greeted softly, perfectly comfortable where she was.

But she knew Spencer probably wouldn't be as comfortable.

He cleared his throat. "Good morning."

JJ shivered. His voice was huskier than usual, a quality she attributed to the fact that he'd just woken. She felt him take a deep breath just before one of his hands – wrapped around her back, holding her against him – started following a small, slow trail on her lower half of her back.

"How did you sleep?"

"Better," she said. "Thank you." Her eyelids were drooping again, partially from being infinitely warm, comfortable and partially because she was still tired.

"JJ? We should probably go have breakfast."

She nodded, snuggling back against him. "Okay, let's just sleep a little longer first."

"JJ-"

Her hand rose to his mouth, covering it as she snuggled against him. "Sleep first."

And really, Spencer couldn't argue with that.

* * *

"I bet you go all out," Morgan answered Garcia with a huge smile. "I bet your apartment is decorated to each of it's corners."

She grinned. "Don't say things you already know, Gorgeous. You're smarter than that."

He chuckled.

"Come on," she urged. "What kind of things do I do at Christmas?" When he met her gaze, she was surprised by the intensity in them.

"You don't work because you like the peace the holiday offers," he started softly, his eyes moving to fix back on his mug. "You spend the day wrapped under blankets watching the Christmas movies you used to watch with your parents. You'd go visit them if you could, but you don't like going out on Christmas."

Garcia blinked. "How…"

Morgan still wouldn't look at her. "You pile blankets on the couch Christmas Eve. I see them every year for our annual dinner and all of your Christmas movies are piled on top of your television." Finally, he looked up. "And I know you, Baby Girl. You may be a Christmas nut, and whine when the day isn't the purest white, but you hate the cold."

Her smile was shaky. It was scary that Morgan knew that much about her. She hadn't realized how obvious she was about the traditions. "You work."

He chuckled. "I do that, Princess," he agreed. "That way people who have a family can go visit them."

"But you have a family," Garcia protested, taking it as the perfect cue to try and understand why he didn't go visit them at Christmas.

Morgan nodded. "I call," he told her. "But I go there once a year, Mom knows that, my sisters know that, and it's just easier."

"But better?"

He smiled. "Not better," he tried to explain. "Just different."

"Different how?"

"Most of us work on Christmas, Doll Face," he answered with a smile, his hand reaching out to tap against her nose. "Reid, JJ, Emily, me… we all work. I'm sure Hotch would too if he didn't have Jack."

Garcia sighed. "You are dedicated overachievers."

"Why thank you." He watched as her fingers started drawing absent patterns on the table. "What is it?"

Her head snapped up, her cheeks flushing red. "Nothing."

He raised an eyebrow. "Penelope…"

"It just seems sad," she said, "That Christmas for you is work."

"Christmas Day is work," he corrected her softly. "Christmas is all what you make of it."

She held his eyes relentlessly. "Spend it with me."

Morgan blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"Spend Christmas Day with me," she elaborated. "We can watch movies, eat popcorn… You already come over for dinner on Christmas Eve."

He wanted to groan when his beeping phone forestalled him from giving an answer. "Morgan. Sure thing, Hotch I'll get on the road now. Quantico, I'll be there in forty, forty-five minutes. Got it."

Garcia looked slightly down. "You have to go."

"I do, Baby Girl," he agreed, standing and taking his travel cup with him.

She was surprised when his hand cupped her cheek, tilting her face up to his. She gasped when he kissed her cheek.

"I'd love to spend Christmas Day with you."

Then he was gone.

* * *

Reid groaned as he heard a cell phone ring and vaguely reached out a hand to grab it.

He and JJ had foregone the actually breakfast provided and opted for breakfast in his room. He had to admit, the extra sleep had done wonders for the bags that had been under her eyes the previous morning. But he'd gotten less sleep than she had and had settled himself down for a twenty minute catnap while JJ showered when the phone interrupted.

"Reid."

"We need to get back to the precinct. The detectives have two sets of lyrics for us."

Reid filed the uncharacteristic tone of Hotch's voice in the back of his mind, the majority of his IQ focused on the case. "Two?"

"They figured _Baby, It's Cold Outside_ meant nothing and didn't contact us."

Reid nodded. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Bring JJ with you. And Reid?"

"Yes sir?"

"Next time, don't answer JJ's phone."

* * *

He'd been a little bit surprised at how well Emily could cook an omelette. Sure, it didn't take too much effort to put it together, but he swore she put something in it that made it taste spectacular.

Hotch had already showered and was sitting on the couch in front of CNN. Emily was in the shower and he could hear the water running. The news was distraction, something to focus on other than the fact that there was a woman, just up the stairs, currently naked and in the shower.

The phone rang, and suddenly, he was faced with a dilemma. It could be JJ, Reid or Morgan, even Garcia in theory, but his gut told him if they wanted to get a hold of Emily, it would make sense that they would want to get a hold of him too. And the team knew he turned off his cell phone as rarely as possible. Which brought him to dilemma B: should he answer it.

Since Emily didn't seem phased by it, he left it go. But then it started ringing again. Hotch sighed. The shrill ring was frustrating when he was trying to hear about the 2008 presidential candidates – or at least just recite what the anchor was saying to focus is brain on something other than Emily and the shower – so he did the next logical thing.

"Prentiss residence."

"Please hold for Ambassador Prentiss."

Hotch froze. Emily's mother. There would be questions. He was up and taking the stairs two at a time. Apparently, he hadn't heard the shower turn off because Emily was currently bent over, digging through a drawer of her dresser, a towel wrapped around her body. By his estimate, the towel would hit just below mid-thigh, but it was creeping up as she bent over.

And it broke his resistance.

Being here, in her apartment, reminded of the domesticity and surrounded by all things Emily had put him on edge to begin with, but he hadn't wanted her to be at home by herself. So, when she told the team that she was going home for the night, no ifs ands or buts, he hadn't thought twice about accompanying her. He'd realized his mistake that morning.

So, he tossed the phone on the bed, crossed the distance between the two of them in three short steps, spun her around, and swallowed her squeak with his mouth.

Emily was stunned. She was standing there, in a towel, and Aaron Hotchner was kissing her. Once that processed, she stopped clinging to her towel, wrapping her arms around his neck and pushing herself flush against him. He tasted of mint toothpaste and just the slightest hint of the coffee he'd consumed before that. Emily felt her knees shaking and knew, if she wasn't clinging to his neck, she would have probably collapsed.

Hotch's hands stroked her waist, wrapping around her tightly and encouraging her as close as she could get. The feel of her, the taste of her, the smell of her, it all surrounded him and overwhelmed his senses and brain. A little voice whispered that there was something he was forgetting, but it was promptly pushed aside when her mouth opened for his tongue.

Eventually, reality reasserted itself in the form of another shrilly ringing phone and Emily pulled her mouth away unwillingly. She had to make a grab for her towel when Hotch took a full step away, his hair tousled from her hands, his lips swollen and chest heaving. If she had less of a conscience, she probably would have ignored the phone and gone for him again.

Hotch blinked, and suddenly the phone call came back to him with startling clarity. Elizabeth Prentiss had probably already hung up because he had been furiously kissing her daughter. "Your mother," he tried, but his brain was still a little preoccupied with her and the towel, eyes focused on a droplet of water that was making a slow trail over her shoulder where it had dropped from her hair.

Emily went for her cell phone, brushing past him to get to her nightstand. "Prentiss," she answered breathlessly.

"Is there something wrong with your house phone?"

Ah, so this was what Hotch had meant when he mentioned her mother. "Not that I know of." When she turned, Hotch was gone. She sighed. _Well, at least he made good on his promise of this not being over._

"Well, someone picked up and-"

"Mother, I'm busy. Is there something you needed?"

"The gala is this weekend. I need you here early."

Emily sighed, returning to her open drawer of underwear. "I'm working. I won't be able to make it at all."

"You can take the day off."

"It's not a matter of taking the day off. I'm in the middle of a case."

"But you're at home."

"For the moment." She looked up and almost screamed. Hotch was back, clicking off his cell phone. "Mom, I have to go, we have to get back to the precinct. If this case finishes by the weekend, I'll be there."

"I need to know, Emily. I can't have an empty spot…"

Emily almost growled. She wanted to talk to Hotch and she didn't want to deal with her mother. "Then leave me off the guest list." She hung up. Her mother would call back, she was sure of it, but for now, it was the bets she could do. "Case?"

Hotch nodded. "We need to get back. I have to call the rest of the team."

Emily noticed his eyes were still dark and a shiver of feminine pride rushed up her back. "I'll, um, get dressed."

His eyes lingered on her collarbone. "I think that would be a good idea."

Emily swallowed. His voice had been huskier than usual and it made her knees buckle slightly. She spotted the phone on the bed and hurriedly clicked it off. "Um," she began, uncharacteristically nervous. "Can you…" She held it out. His fingers brushed hers as he took the phone back and this time, she really did shiver. And almost lost the tenuous thread of her restraint when his eyes darkened.

She was in deep.

_And so, I'm offering this simple phrase  
__For kids from one to ninety-two  
__Although it's been said many times many ways  
__Merry Christmas to you.

* * *

_

**_dayana82 mentioned wanting to see what was happening with the others. Here you go, LOL! Let me know if you like it. _**

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**_We get back to the case in the next chapter so back to the creepiness! _**

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**_Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing. I know I'm behind, and I promise I'm trying to work my way back. I'm done soon (thank goodness!) so I'll have a lot more time to focus on the story and my others! Thanks so much for your patience. _**

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**_Reviewers get a cameo appearance!_**


	13. Rudolph the RedNosed Reindeer

**December 13, 2007**

"You seem particularly upbeat."

He looked at Carrie across the café table. "I haven't heard from Mom in almost a week."

Carrie laughed. "She can't be that bad."

"She hasn't called in _a week_, Carrie, a week. Do you know how little that happens?"

Carrie took a sip of the water in front of her. "Mom never calls me."

He rolled his eyes. "You're perfect."

"Come on! It can't be that bad."

"It's worse than that bad." His phone rang.

"Saunders. Sure thing, Dr Osmon, I'll be there."

"The hospital?"

He flashed her an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, sis."

"Next time, " she said with a smile. "The ER is down a doc." His phone rang again. "Saunders."

"We have a change of plans, you're going to have to be here at noon."

He winced. The last thing he wanted to deal with was his mother. "I have a shift on Christmas Day, I can't make it until that afternoon."

"You will be here."

"I can't."

"This is nonnegotiable, you ungrateful child! You will be here! You will not ruin Christmas for your sister!"

"I'm _working_ Mom. At the hospital. Like my job demands."

"Family always comes first! Did we teach you nothing! You are the most ungrateful child I have ever met! We raised you, clothed you, gave you a-"

"I'm late, Mom, for a shift. I'll try and trade with someone else."

"You are going to have to do better than try! You will be here."

He sighed when he heard the dial tone, forcing himself to take a deep breath. He just wanted to _strangle_ her! A slow and painful death would be the only thing to help him sleep that night...

* * *

Diana Marshal sighed as she made her way through their winter fair, unlocking various trunks as she went. As the owner of the fair, it was her job to get up at the crack of dawn to have the fair up and running by eight. 

The last place she always opened was the stables. As she unlocked the door the animals started to wake up. It made her smile. She went down the line, unlocking the padlocks to make sure her workers could get in. The end of the stables was reindeer, her personal favourite. She'd always loved the reindeer.

She went along the stalls, humming to herself. Each of the reindeer were named as Santa named them. Rudolph was between Dasher and Comet and as Diana opened the padlock she expected Rudolph to smell the sugar cubes she had in her pocket. When he wasn't looming above her when she pushed herself from her crouching position, she glanced into the stall. And screamed.

* * *

Tension was high in the precinct when Morgan stepped into the conference room. He looked around at his four colleagues and the detectives, an eyebrow raised in confusion. "Did something happen that I don't know about?" 

His voice seemed to startle Emily and Reid, both of them visibly jumping. Hotch glanced up then around, then back. "We've got two more sets of lyrics."

"And we're no closer," JJ agreed. "Are you sure we shouldn't be spreading this to the media? The detectives say the neighbourhoods are terrified."

"We have nothing to tell them," Hotch repeated for what felt like the millionth time.

"We don't have an age and we don't have a gender, but we have the rest of it," Reid protested, his eyes shifting.

"What did I miss?" Morgan asked, his tone implying he was not talking about the case.

"A whole lot," Lindsay agreed with a smile. She glanced at the door. "Lieutenant."

"We've got another body. Well, depending on your definition two."

"Two bodies?" Jacob asked.

The lieutenant nodded. "Rudolph is dead."

* * *

Emily had been surprised that Hotch had partnered himself with her to check out the fair. Tense was an understatement to describe their interaction at the police station. 

He'd been the one to break the ice between them, the one who had kissed her. She'd been surprised, completely taken aback. She'd never expected that her unattainable man would, in fact, be the opposite. And that was if she'd ever end up doing anything about it.

What she'd said to Garcia had been right. She'd firmly believed nothing would ever happen. Now, it had, and she had no idea what it meant.

She stepped out of the SUV in almost perfect synchronization with Hotch and they walked side by side to the barn that held the crime scene. Emily grimaced as they caught sight of the two bodies. A young woman and a reindeer.

"Everything okay?" Hotch asked softly.

"Yeah. Where's the woman who found them?"

He decided against questioning her further seeing turmoil and confusion in her gaze. He hadn't meant for that to happen. For the first time, he hadn't been able to curb the impulse.

"Diana Marshal," one o f the nearby cops volunteered. "She's over there."

Emily and Hotch exchanged a glance and Emily took the witness. Her hand brushed gently over the woman's shoulder to get her attention. "I'm Emily Prentiss, I'm with the FBI."

Diana's eyes widened. "FBI?"

"We're helping with a case. Can you tell us anything?"

"Kath was the best person we had that worked with these reindeer. Actually, with all of the animals. Her nickname was Dr Dolittle." The last was said with a little laugh. "She stayed late last night, something about Donder not feeling the best. She was always the one who could tell when the animals weren't well. She was a regular…"

"…Dr Dolittle," Emily finished with a comforting smile.

"Did I tell you that? I already told you that." She let out a shaky breath. "I just…"

"It's not easy," Emily soothed. "But you were the one to find her, right?"

Diana nodded. "I… I own the place so… I lock everything down and then… then unlock it in the morning. Kath… She promised she'd lock up Donder's… Donder's pen when she was done. She's stayed late before, this wasn't the first time."

"Did she do it often?" Emily asked gently.

"No," she said with a shake of her head. "Only when she had to. I… None of us like staying late. And I don't like letting people stay late. We have long days, lots of kids, the whole thing so I try and make sure each of our employees head home with enough time to get a good night's sleep."

"Does anyone else have a key?"

"Only to their respective buildings. I'm the only one with every key and the only master key."

Emily smiled. "Thank you."

"What did she say?" Hotch asked as Emily returned to his side.

"No one else has access. Hotch this…"

"Is rage," he finished, his eyes taking in the blood. The hay was covered in it, the walls of the stall were covered, even the envelope in his hand was covered in it.

Emily waved to it. "What song?"

Hotch opened the envelope and read the words out loud. "_Rudolph the red nosed reindeer had a very shiny nose._"

Emily groaned. "I hate Rudolph."

He turned to her. "You hate Rudolph?"

"Only Christmas symbol I hate more than Frosty."

Hotch raised an eyebrow. "There are Christmas symbols you hate?"

She rolled her eyes. "I _hate_ Rudolph."

* * *

**_So... I got this huge influx of reviews that destroyed any and all concentration to work on my Research Methods, so I'm going to try and write the next chapter tonight (so that I don't feel so far behind, even if I am) and then focus on my exams for a bit. I'm done after that though!!!_**

**_So, I want to say thank you to each and every person that reviewed! You are all fantastic. And a special thank you to the people who now can, at the very least, tolerate the Emily-Hotch relationship. It almost becomes an honour when I can "shift" people's ideas of things!_**


	14. O Come, O Come Emmanuel

**December 14, 2007**

_Oh Come, oh come Emmanuel  
Oh blessed king of Israel_

"This is getting out of control," JJ said in lieu of hello when she came in with coffee and breakfast for all seated around the table.

"How bad is it?" Hotch asked, only glancing up.

"It's everywhere. With the fact that it's Christmastime and they're all around the same place… It's a circus."

"We had people at the crime scene yesterday," Emily added. "And I don't think they were all there for the fair."

"You're right about that," JJ agreed, tossing two newspapers on the table. Both of them were local-based community papers but both of them had Emily and Hotch emerging from the barn on the front page.

"Gotta tell you, Em, that is your best side."

Emily rolled her eyes at Morgan. "Best side or not, we want to be on top of what's released to the media, right JJ?"

"Exactly," JJ agreed. "We're going to need to call a press conference."

"We've got enough for a preliminary profile," Morgan pointed out. "It may not be concrete, but it's something. At least enough to present to the media."

JJ looked to Hotch. "We have to do something," she repeated.

Hotch looked to Lindsay and Jacob. "We're ready to give a profile."

* * *

JJ was antsy. It happened during profiles, partially because she had very little to do with the actual presentation and partially because her mind was already circling what she was going to have to say in front of the cameras. Her mind recited the profile over and over again. While victimology didn't give them an age or even a gender, but characteristics, the rage, the signature, were easier. 

_High stress job. Probably middle class, from the neighbourhoods and people he attacked. Friendly, but when Christmas comes up he shuts down…_

"JJ, you've done this before."

Her head snapped up to look at Reid. "I know."

"Then why are you pacing?"

She hadn't realized she had been. "There's so many holes," she said, moving to a nearby chair.

"The public doesn't know that," Reid pointed out. "We've presented profiles on less."

That was true.

"We're breaking for lunch after the press conference," Reid began, interrupting her train of thought for the second time. "Um… there's a rink not far from here and… um… I figured since you liked Christmas so much and you mentioned skating was one of those Christmas traditions that we could go, but we can wait, you know, because we're working a case and all and it would be inappropriate to use the time for something that wasn't work related especially since the holes me we have no idea what his next move is and-"

"Spence, I get it and I'd love to go."

"Oh," Reid said. "Um… Okay… Um…"

"Agent Jareau, they're waiting for you."

"That's my cue. I'll come find you guys after I get this out to the press?"

"Morgan and Garcia are heading out now, I think Emily and Hotch are going to stay."

JJ smiled as she moved past him, impulsively pressing a kiss to his cheek. "I'll be back in fifteen minutes."

* * *

"Pen, why did you come?" 

Garcia looked over at the man next to her, confusion marring her brow like it permeated his voice. "You guys were here. That, my dear, is the beauty of laptops."

Morgan chuckled. "It's not that I'm not happy to see you, sweetheart, but you are so at home in that little lair of yours. It doesn't make sense that you'd leave your high tech haven behind to come to Annandale."

"Ah, but family and Christmas has a much louder call than that of the blissful solitude," she responded, her voice ominous. "I'd rather be here with you guys."

His hand reached over to squeeze her thigh. "I'm glad you came. Everyone was getting couple-y on me." He was very much aware nothing would catch her attention more than words such as those.

"Really? I figured Jayje would take advantage of the season, but Em too?"

The gleeful look on her face made her look like such a child. "Tension was high, Baby Girl. Feeling like the fifth wheel in our team is just wrong."

"So Em actually jumped Hotch? I didn't need to manipulate the Secret Santa?"

"Whoa, I have no insider information, just Emily's extreme avoidance of a discussion about it all. I wouldn't start picking bridesmaids bouquets just yet."

Garcia pouted. "Ruin my fun."

"Awe, don't pout. Come on, I'll let you pick our dining spot and give you the dirt I do have."

The blond brightened immediately. "You're on, Sugar!"

* * *

Emily was good at the avoidance game. The number one rule: be where the avoidee wasn't. She'd managed that first step and would have passed any exam with flying colours. At least, until she got caught up in the case files. But her radar worked just fine and Hotch's presence was one she could never really be blissfully unaware of. 

"Are you going to stay here for the next hour?"

She felt her muscles tensing, blood rushing up to paint the back of her neck and ears a bright red. "I've got nothing better to do."

Those had been just the words he was looking for. "Come for lunch."

"Lunch?" That would be a monumentally bad idea. She hadn't had time to process, to think, to consider anything except the fact that they had a killer on the loose and he'd done quite the number on Rudolph and his trainer. Sure, the fact that they had kissed had processed through her mind, as had the distinct feeling of his body pressed tightly against hers and the knowledge that the only thing between him and her body had been her towel, but that aside, she hadn't thought about what that could mean or what she wanted it to mean.

"Yes. You have to eat something."

"I will," she said vaguely, her head dropping back to the files.

"Emily."

Goodness she loved how he said her name. At this moment, it wasn't what she needed, but the few times he called her 'Emily' were times that replayed over and over in her head during those lonely nights. Emily had to resist the urge to slap herself at the thought. She was a walking cliché!

"Come on. Come for lunch. We'll talk."

She looked up at him. "That's what I'm afraid of."

"You're afraid of talking?" he took the seat beside her.

Emily kept her eyes fixed on the pages in front of her. "Look, Hotch-"

"Aaron."

Her eyes shot up to lock on his. "Aaron," she said softly, a thrill racing down her spine as his pupils dilated. "If that was a mistake then I need you to tell me now and I promise, I'll just let it go."

"And if it wasn't?" he asked, his eyes searching hers.

Emily closed her eyes, she needed the reprieve from that intense gaze before she melted completely. She needed to concentrate. "If it wasn't then you have to be sure," she said softly. "This could…"

"Garcia has JJ and Reid well on their way to a relationship and she won't have a hard time of convincing Morgan that the love they share is more than the best-friends-brother-sister love," he began softly. "I know the risks, Emily."

Part of her couldn't believe what she was hearing. "And you're willing to take them?"

He flashed her a genuine smile. "Let's go for lunch. We'll see how things go from there."

With a proposition like that, Emily had little will power to decline. Her cheeks flooded red when he took her hand and kept hold of it the whole way out of the precinct and she had to bite her lips against a smile. Maybe Garcia had been right and there was plenty she'd been blind to.

* * *

JJ laughed as Spencer stumbled again on his skates. She'd been skating since she was a child, every year, as often as possible. Her balance was still perfect on two thin blades of metal. Spencer, a natural klutz, stood no chance. But it was sure entertainment for her. 

She felt a little humbled that he'd come to her for Christmas traditions. More than that, she felt privileged. Spencer rarely shared anything personal with anyone, even her, and especially since Gideon left. The fact that he was here, vulnerable, for all intents and purposes, spoke to her about his trust in her and his willingness to actually make use of that trust.

It made her feelings for him that little bit stronger.

She'd been harbouring something for him for what felt like forever, as stupid as it sounded, but it had only solidified itself when she felt so responsible for his disappearance with Henkel. They'd gone out for dinner after that, both of them feeling the need to get a few things off of their chests. And Spencer had done wonders for her guilt complex. He hadn't erased it completely, but she felt much more comfortable about the whole ordeal now. And it had done nothing but increase her feelings.

"Come on, Spence. This was your suggestion," she said through her giggles. "It's just a little bit further."

"Easy for you to say," he grumbled. "You aren't the one slipping and sliding and whoa!"

JJ laughed outright as she took the tumble with him, unable to keep her balance through the amusement. She let herself simply relax against him as her body shook with mirth. Finally she looked up, her eyes still sparkling. "You owe me dinner Dr Reid."

Spencer gaped and sputtered. "It was an unfair wager!"

JJ guffawed. "Unfair would be if I _didn't_ help you and simply skated the laps," she pointed out. "And I didn't do anything to make you fall."

Technically, it was true, but Spencer had been head over heels for the blond for too long for her to have no effect on him. Her presence had been distracting enough, let along her hands in his and her heart-stopping laughter. "It was unfair!"

"You agreed," she pointed out logically. "If I'd known you were going to put up such a fight I wouldn't have made the bet to begin with."

She sounded upset and Spencer reacted immediately. "No, JJ, that's not…"

JJ was already pushing herself up from the ice, balancing perfectly on her skates. "I'm going to skate a few laps. You can make your way to the bench?"

"JJ—"

But she was already gone.

* * *

**_I'm not sure I'm happy with this chapter. I've started shifting the focus from the case to the relationships and I'm not sure what I think of it. _**

**_So here's a question: I have all of the chapters planned, and the next one is supposed to have some stuff in it that relates to the case, but I'm wondering if you guys would be particularly against me changing that to a strictly personal chapter? What if I promised to clear up a few of the relationship issues? I have to solve the case, but the case is posing issues and I'm going to go back and read all of the case bits so I can remind myself of where I am, but I have a million ideas for the personal..._**

**_So let me know what you think! _**

**_PS: For everyone who had questions about Emily hating Rudolph, here's the deal: I'm sick of Rudolph and Frosty and Jingle Bells because I've heard them so often. Emily's hatred of Rudolph stems from that, but it's really just because I'm sick of them. I'm sure in a few years I will find my love of them again, but my tastes tend to run a bit more traditional lately. _**

**_Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing. I love reading them because some of you have some great things to say. I appreciate it a whole lot. _**


	15. O Holy Night

**December 15, 2007**

_O Holy Night, the stars are brightly shining  
This is the night of our dear saviour's birth_

JJ slammed down the paper in frustration. There was only one way this could be taken considering the unsub's past. A child, an infant, and that was all they had to go on. "There's going to be people on the look out for someone desecrating Christmas paraphernalia," she pointed out. "Someone's got to see something."

"At the expense of a child," Morgan growled.

Emily groaned and dropped her head to the table. "Why, why, why?"

"We'll put extra patrols out," Lindsay volunteered. "Get them to focus on the neighbourhoods that have been hit."

Hotch sighed. "Have them pay special attention to any nativity scenes or churches. He's talking about a 'saviour's' birth."

"And can we get a list of missing children filed in the last two weeks? Specifically boys under the age of two," Reid asked.

"Sure thing," Jacob agreed. "Virginia and DC."

"Perfect," Emily said. "I'll come with you."

"Better idea," Morgan spoke up. "Garcia and I will look into the missing kids with Detective Marsh. What do you think Mama?"

"I'm in," Garcia agreed. "I should be able to looking nationally from here too."

"The child is probably going to be from in the state," Reid suggested.

""What makes you say that?" JJ asked forcefully. "Kidnappers have taken kids across the country."

Reid looked surprised. "Um… He… He probably hasn't… under two… he's not a pedophile..."

Emily, Morgan and Garcia exchanged a look over the obvious frustration between the two of them. Garcia seemed supremely surprised by JJ's blatant anger. _And things had been going so well,_ she thought to herself.

"JJ, take Prentiss and go around to churches. I want them on high alert with their manger scenes," Hotch ordered.

Both women moved without being asked twice.

Hotch looked at the rest of the team. "We're going to figure out who we're looking for before we find another body."

* * *

JJ sighed heavily as they stepped out of the sixth church in the immediate area. She and Emily had agreed to spiral out from the police station. Each church had sworn no one they knew would ever think of such a thing, but they'd keep an eye on their nativity scenes. 

"Everything okay?" Emily asked as they climbed back into the car.

"Yeah," JJ said. "I'm just tired."

"I just want to find this guy," Emily agreed with a nod. "And be home for Christmas."

"I want some serious chocolate," JJ said with a sigh, resting her head against the cool glass of the window.

"That doesn't sound good," Emily said.

"Yeah well," JJ said with annoyance.

Emily glanced over. "That's it?" Emily made a couple of quick turns and pulled up to a coffee shop they'd passed.

JJ didn't bother asking why they'd stopped, just followed Emily inside. She followed Emily's lead, surprised at the decision to buy a chocolate brownie. "Case is that bad?"

"The case feels like the least of my worries," she admitted.

"I know the feeling."

"You had your boss kiss you?"

JJ gasped. "No!"

Emily looked surprised she'd let it slip, but nodded anyway. It was out of the bag now. "When he stayed over."

"Did you…?"

Emily was already shaking her head. "What about you?"

"Reid."

"Kissed you?" Emily asked, biting into her brownie and closing her eyes in pleasure.

"That's the problem. He won't even go out for dinner with me."

"Excuse me?"

JJ rolled her eyes. "I ended up falling asleep in his bed," she began.

"His bed?!" Emily clapped a hand over her mouth when JJ shot her a look. "Sorry, keep going."

"He… he invited me skating," JJ continued, jumping ahead. "And I made him a bet that if he could make it once around the rink without falling, I'd buy him dinner, but if he didn't, he had to buy me dinner."

"Who won?"

"I did. He fell not too far from the lap mark."

"Good for him. For making it that far, I mean."

JJ pursed her lips. "He had help."

"So what? He went back on the deal?"

"He called it an unfair deal," JJ corrected. "That I had the advantage."

"You helped him around the rink, how does that give you the advantage?"

"Exactly!" JJ exclaimed. "He doesn't make sense!"

"He's Reid," Emily pointed out seriously. "A genius when it comes to storing and regurgitating information but terrible when it comes to personal relationships."

"Tell me about it," the blond agreed with a roll of her eyes. "He hadn't seen The Grinch until a few days ago."

"That doesn't surprise me."

"No, but it's still a terrible thing to have not seen it," JJ sighed. "He's had no Christmas experience."

"And who better than you to teach him, unless you'd like to leave it to Garcia," Emily pointed out sagely. "Everyone knows, JJ."

"And no one has a problem with it?" she inquired anxiously.

"Technically you're not on the same team," Emily answered with a sigh, thinking of her own predicament. After all, her yearning to climb in the FBI was pretty common knowledge, even if she wasn't so sure about it anymore.

"True," JJ agreed. "But we still work together."

"And you've been working together with these feelings for ages, what difference does it make?" Emily added with a shrug.

"I'm assuming that's not the relationship outlook you take with Hotch," JJ said sagely. "Why not?"

"Where do you want me to start?"

"So you're actually admitting to there being something?"

The girls had been out a number of times and only JJ and Garcia had been pressured enough to admit their 'things' on their co-workers. Emily's background in politics gave her the upper hand in evasive answers. Even press queen JJ had relented under Garcia.

"He kissed me," Emily pointed out.

"What does that have to do with anything? You didn't answer the question."

Emily kept her eyes on the last bite of her brownie. "He said it wasn't a mistake," she said softly. "That he knew the risks. Then we went out to lunch and ended up not talking about it at all."

JJ considered the woman in front of her. "Em, there are things between you and Hotch that there aren't between the rest of us. He's a little bit more caring, a little bit more worried when you go undercover or into a dangerous situation. He hates putting you along for interrogations, the same way he won't let me do any, but I'm not a BAU agent, so it's technically not part of my job description."

"He worries about Reid doing anything dangerous," Emily contradicted. "And he won't let Reid do undercovers period."

"Because Reid went into a train with a psychopath and did magic tricks," JJ answered. "He went home with you, Em, because he didn't want you alone during the case. Notice how he didn't trail Morgan?"

"He went back to Quantico, not that much danger on the FBI campus."

"You're looking for reasons to turn this down," JJ said, her voice a little awed.

"He's my boss, JJ. You know as well as I do how the FBI is going to take that. It's-"

"If you're going to tell me it's against protocol I'm going to call you a chicken."

The threat shut Emily's mouth immediately. She was a lot of things, but she prided herself on being self-assured and ready to speak her mind. She was not a chicken.

"That's what I thought. You know you want this, I know you want this, the team knows you want this, _he_ knows you want this. Why are you holding back?"

"Because I'm terrified I'm going to screw up," Emily blurted.

"You don't think the rest of us are?"

"It's a habit, JJ. Every single time."

"You and Hotch have known each other for how long?"

"In a professional capacity."

"And you're behaviouralists. You probably knew more about him in the first three months of knowing him than Haley did in the first three years."

"Because I'm trained to see it."

"None of these things are giving me a good reason for you to say no," JJ argued, licking the rest of the brownie crumbs off of her plate with a finger.

Emily groaned. "JJ…"

"I'll make you a deal. You fix things with Hotch, let yourself go for a moment in your life, and I'll flat out tell Reid," the blond proposed.

"Let myself go?"

Emily's insinuation about JJ was clear and JJ had to admit, she could be just as rigid sometimes. "I'll be doing the same thing."

"I don't know…"

"Hotch gave you the opportunity. He's been officially divorced for a year and a half. The entire team will look the other way and it's not like Strauss is going to do anything. She knows we're the best, she knows Hotch is the best one to lead us and she's very much aware of what an asset you are to the team and to the Bureau."

Emily sighed. "We're talking in circles, aren't we?"

"I certainly feel like I'm talking to a brick wall," JJ said with a smile that indicated her teasing.

"You're on," Emily finally decided. "By Christmas."

JJ held out her hand and the woman shook. They were going to have their men by Christmas

* * *

_**Once again, I can officially say this morphed out of my control. JJ and Emily wanted to have a relationship conversation and I had very little power in stopping them. And I chose a little tidbit of case, but a lot of personal. I think we'll be clearing up JJ's issue next chapter. I'm still not sure how or when I'm going to clear up things with Emily and Hotch. They will need to have a conversation at some point. And a make out session? I have no idea.**_

_**Okay, in all seriousness though, I never expected this to hit over 100 reviews. I seriously didn't. So to each person that reviewed to push me to this mark, I owe you more than a cookie. I'll talk to CBS about loaning out Reid, Hotch and Morgan, how does that sound?**_


	16. I'll Be Home for Christmas

**December 16, 2007**

Reid knocked on JJ's door early the next morning, his hands shaking. He'd been woken by a pillow to the face from Morgan, on his way out the door to breakfast and notifying him that the rest of the team would be scarce for the next little while and JJ would be by herself. He didn't have to tell Reid to fix whatever was going on between him and JJ.

"It's open!"

Reid pushed the door open tentatively, not surprised in the slightest to find her cross-legged on her bed with pages strewn around her. JJ liked to make sure she was completely up to date with a case every morning for press and personal reasons.

"Good morning." He tried not to cringe at how high and nervous his voice sounded.

She smiled slightly. "I won't bite you know," she told him. "You don't have to be nervous."

But Reid was nervous. In fact, he was pretty well on his way to terrified. Sure, he and JJ had a very distinct camaraderie, but he knew her goal was to shift that. He had no idea what to do or what to say. He hoped the little gift in his hand might smooth things over just that little bit.

"I… um… are you… I mean…"

JJ started piling her pages up. "It's okay," she said, not meeting his eyes.

It was then he realized he was just going to have to spit it out. "It's not that I don't want to go to dinner with you."

That caught JJ's attention from her work. "Okay…"

"It's the things 'dinner' implies."

She'd known that already. "I'm not asking for an engagement ring, you know," she said carefully, watching him fidget, her eyes drawn to the way he kept his hands behind his back.

Reid's eyes widened. "I hope not."

He looked so surprised, baffled and a little bit afraid of what he'd said that JJ found herself giggling despite herself. Eventually, she got them under control enough to speak. "What's behind your back?"

He seemed substantially relieved by her change in subject. "I… you told me once… here." The little 'o' of surprised glee on her face made his nervousness worth it, he decided.

Carefully she pulled the tape off the paper, leaving it in the prefect square shape he'd cut it into to wrap. She pulled the DVD out of the case with a large grin. "The new one."

"I know it's not your favourite but…"

The sentimentality struck her with surprise. "No, it's… thank you." She tried to convey her gratitude with those words, but they felt inadequate coming out of her mouth. Thus, she did the only thing she could think of. Moving quickly so he didn't have time to do much other than blink, she kissed his cheek. For what it showed her was that he made an effort, that he was listening and trying. It was worth more for her than any other gift that he could present her with.

Reid stood blinking as she pulled away, her eyes still fixed on the DVD case. He hadn't expected such a response to a simple present and he definitely hadn't expected that little kiss. "Y-your welcome."

JJ linked arms with him, dropping the DVD on her bed. "Come on. Let's meet the others for breakfast."

* * *

_I'll be home for Christmas  
You can count on me  
Please have snow and mistletoe  
And presents under the tree_

"We've got every church keeping an eye on their nativity scenes. If anything changes, they'll notify the police immediately," JJ started once everyone had been seated.

"The number of missing children in the area is surprisingly astronomical," Garcia continued her fingers tapping away. "We narrowed the search to any child under a year and it's still depressing."

Emily was glad she didn't have to pay attention. Her mind was reeling with what had shown up in her room that morning. It was after breakfast, after Morgan and Hotch had both headed back upstairs and Emily had decided to stay down with JJ, Reid and Garcia. When she returned to her room with JJ, a small gift was sitting on her bed by her pillow. Her name was scrawled on the package.

When she'd opened it, she'd found a book she'd been looking for, a book that she could seem to find anywhere. And Hotch had found it for her. Her head was still preoccupied with his words.

_I know the risks, Emily_.

Well good for him, but she didn't know if she was really willing to take them. She loved the rest of the team like family and they meant the world to her. If she and Hotch started something and it didn't work she knew she'd be the one to leave. She'd had the guts to do it once before and she'd do it again for him. That didn't mean it wasn't going to be horribly painful to consider and go through with.

It was the main reason she was holding back. That, and the idea that it was still extremely surreal.

"Em?"

She looked up at Morgan's voice, surprised. She hadn't been aware of people leaving. "Sorry, what was that?"

"We're going to do another run through of the neighbourhoods, just to be sure everything's good."

"You and me?"

He looked at her oddly. "Heck yes. You are going to start talking, girl. Whatever's on your mind."

The look she gave him was the complete exasperation he was so used to. "Let's just do this, okay?"

Morgan held up his hands in surrender. "What was the present on your bed?"

She rounded on him. "You _knew_ about it?"

Morgan shrugged. "It's common knowledge that Pen specifically chose who each one of us was going to have as a Secret Santa. It wasn't really that hard to figure out that it meant you and Hotch. And our rooms connect."

"You saw him put it on my pillow?"

Morgan nodded. "Same as I saw Reid with JJ's first present."

Emily gasped and grabbed his long-sleeved shirt. "Tell me!"

"You're like a kid in a candy store," he chuckled. "But… I'll tell you what I know."

Emily grinned. "You're more of a girl than we all thought."

"Nah, I'm just helping your addiction," he contradicted wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

* * *

_**I'm so impatient to fix things with Emily and Hotch and actually have JJ and Reid kiss but I have different plans and they're taking so long!!! I'm so frustrated!!!**_

_**Hope you enjoyed this anyway.**_


	17. What Child is This

**December 17, 2007**

Garcia looked up at the gentle knock on the small alcove she had made her own for the case. She grinned at the man holding out a take out large coffee for her. "You are a God."

Morgan sent her his most charming grin in response. "Tell me something I don't know. Now, what was with the SOS call?"

She made a noise through her first sip. "Those kids we went through… I narrowed them down to the last week. Kids are hard to take care of so I figured our guy probably hadn't had them that long."

Morgan nodded as he leaned over her. "Very logical, Baby Girl. What did you find?"

"Five kids went missing in the last week in the Virginia, DC… you know, the usual suspects," she began. "Three of them were boys."

"We're not sure the next one is going to be a boy," Morgan said with a sigh.

"Hey, everything will be fine," she soothed. "The names are on the printer if you guys are up to talking to the families."

He sighed. "Thanks, Pen." He kissed her head on his way to the conference room. Then he paused for a moment. "You're not staying here for the meeting, are you?"

"You have the names, you don't need me."

"You're part of the team. The _team_ is meeting in fifteen. I'll save you a seat."

"Derek-"

"Nuh uh, Baby Girl. Bells on, we've got a meeting to attend."

She had no idea what he meant by 'bells' until he held out a wrapped package. She laughed when she opened it to find a couple of adorable bell earrings. "Where did you find these?"

"Hobby shop," he answered, flicking the bell she'd just fixed in her ear so it jingled happily. "I saw them in a window."

She tilted her head back so she could look at him. "They are fantastic."

"They're you. Now, no more arguing. I'll see you in fifteen."

* * *

Emily stood outside of the precinct, watching the snow, ignoring the cold swirling around her. It was hard to reconcile the fact that she had what she wanted at her fingertips and she was prepared to turn it away because she was scared.

She didn't jump when a hand settled on her shoulder, nor did she bother to turn around. Since he'd kissed her, her Hotch-radar had been haywire. She'd know when he was within three feet of her, know what he was aiming for before he reached for it… it was like her regular radar was on high alert.

"It's freezing out here."

Emily shrugged the shoulder his hand wasn't on. "It's not too bad."

Hotch mentally breathed out a breath of relief. He figured if she was mad at him, she would have shrugged him off, but his hand was still on her shoulder. "Emily-"

"Not here," she said, her voice sounding exhausted. "Not here and not now."

His hand fell from her shoulder, his head tilting downwards. When he looked back up he was surprised to find her pleading eyes looking back at him.

"This… I never expected to be in this position, to actually have you considering... something… with me. I… I guess I got used to telling myself you were out of bounds because you're my boss because you're… well, you. So… this is a little… overwhelming." Her eyes begged him to just go with it.

"Overwhelming?" he asked, his hand coming up to cup her cheek.

Emily took a sharp breath at the touch, turning her head into his hand for a brief instant before turning away. They were out front of the precinct for goodness sakes and even if the team knew, the department didn't have to. "I'm not saying 'no'. I'm asking for time. Not just because I need to think about it, absorb it, but because we're in the middle of a case and we've got an unsub out there."

He had to admit it made sense. Lots of sense, and he really couldn't expect her to just jump into things when he'd been hiding his feelings for her until he'd basically jumped her. His hand fell down her arm, squeezing her hand once gently before pulling away completely. "Okay."

"Okay?" Emily asked in surprise.

"We've made it this long, haven't we? And my cards are all on the table."

That much was true. "I want to make sure, real sure, we're both completely sure of the risks," she said softly. "I know you've said you are, but I'm not sure I am."

JJ popped her head out of the doors then, her face endlessly apologetic. "They've found him." Then she watched as both of them seamlessly transitioned from the couple they looked like to hardened FBI agents.

"Where?"

"A neighbour passed by 39 Heritage Woods Way and heard the baby screaming from a manger scene on the front lawn," JJ supplied. "Baby's going to hospital now, he's alive."

"Do they have a name?"

"They're going to match the description with missing persons and call us when they have an official determination."

Hotch exchanged a look with Emily. "We'll head over to the house. You and Morgan head over to the hospital until they get a name. Then I want you to talk to the parents."

JJ nodded. "Got it," she answered tossing a set of keys their way. She watched as the other two agents moved swiftly, Hotch following Emily as they went. It baffled her that something so obvious to everyone else could be so hidden to others.

_Then again,_ she thought to herself_ there seems to be a lot of that going around lately._

* * *

There was a family crowded on the front porch, a man looking slightly shaken off to the side and yellow crime scene tape tied to trees and fence posts to block off the scene. Hotch flashed his badge as they stepped under the tape, making a beeline to Jacob.

"What happened?"

"Jogger there found the kids this morning, screaming his lungs out. He called 911, told them what he found, paramedics notified us."

"And the boy?" Hotch asked apprehensively.

"Cold, frost bitten, but pending an official diagnosis, he may be okay."

"Let's take comfort in the fact that he wasn't dead when we found him," Emily suggested, her eyes more fixed on Hotch than Jacob. She knew child cases affected him, especially those with young boys. "We have agents on their way to the hospital and the hospital's going to go through the missing persons to see if they can figure out who this kid is."

"Lyrics?" Hotch asked, regaining his equilibrium again.

Jacob handed over the bagged sheet, already unfolded and spread out. "I'm just glad the other connotation of 'laid to rest' isn't true in this case."

Emily sent him a smile as she looked at the words, absently leaning closer to Hotch. "Aren't we all."

_What child is this who laid to rest  
On Mary's lap is sleeping?  
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet  
While shepherds watch are keeping._

* * *

JJ and Morgan stood watching doctors race around the small infant in the ER both of them anxious to see what the diagnosis would be. Lindsay stood with them, ready to take the news back to the officers and her partner.

"Saunders! Curtain three! Infant."

Morgan's keen eye searched out the doctor they were calling, one who looked up in alarm. He looked to the curtain, saw the nurses rushing around a baby, and Morgan watched as all of the colour drained from his face.

"Saunders! Get off the phone with your neurotic mother and get to treating that kid!"

_Stressful job, stressful parent…_ Morgan thought to himself as he continued to watch. When a female in a white lab coat approached the bed he figured the Dr Saunders had managed to pass it off. That was the last they could remember before they were ushered back and out of the way by a gurney.

Fifteen minutes later the doctor approached. "You're all here for the unidentified infant?"

Morgan nodded. "Agents Morgan and Jareau, FBI and Detective Wild."

"Dr Vanessa Chard," she answered with a definitive nod double checking the badge Morgan flashed. "The kid's lucky to be alive, to be honest. It hasn't been brutally cold, but the rags he was wrapped in would have kept very little of the warmth in. Do you know where his parents are?"

"We're going to need a description of any unique markings you can find," Lindsay responded.

"Sure thing. We're going to keep running tests just to make sure. He's not out of the woods yet."

"Thanks," JJ said as she flipped open her phone and headed out of the ER. "Hotch, it's JJ…"


	18. Jingle Bells

**December 18, 2007**

"There is something terribly wrong with this picture," Emily said with a sigh as she and Morgan headed through the snowy surroundings of Annandale Community Park.

"Maybe he got pissed 'cause the baby didn't die," Morgan responded. They were on their way to another crime scene, this one of two dead in a sleigh. The front end of it was buried in a large snowdrift, both of the people graced with bloody gashes on their heads.

"My money's on blunt force trauma," Emily said with a tight smile as she and Morgan unconsciously split to either side of the sleigh.

"My preliminary assessment as well," the coroner agreed looking up.

Morgan ran a hand over his head. "This guy's crazy. What's the count again?"

"By my count? Four actual deaths, an animal death, and the almost-death of Lucas Kane. These would be official deaths five and six," Lindsay said with a heavy sigh as she moved to stand beside Morgan. "And there's nothing we can do."

"And today's envelope?" Emily asked, thanking the coroner as she took the envelope. She pulled the paper out and sighed. "Jingle Bells."

Morgan took the proffered page.

_Dashing through the snow  
In a one-horse open sleigh  
Over the fields we go  
Laughing all the way._

"I don't think these two were laughing when they impacted the snow bank," Lindsay said wryly.

"What about horses? Or whatever was propelling the sleigh."

"We haven't found anything yet," Lindsay said, rubbing her eyes.

Emily and Morgan exchanged a sympathetic glance. They often worked cases on little or no sleep, the odd time going up to forty-eight hours without shut-eye. Most regular cops didn't have those kinds of insane hours except on the odd case. And with a case like this, it wouldn't surprise either of the agents if the local police were finding it hard to separate dreams from reality.

"Let's get this analyzed ASAP," Emily suggested as she dropped it into an evidence bag a CSU officer held out to her. "Maybe this time we'll get lucky."

* * *

When the words had come out of her mouth, Emily hadn't actually expected there to be any luck involved. Thus, she was happily surprised that night when the DNA on the envelope came back with an actual profile.

"Female," Jacob said as they stood around. "Licked the envelope closed."

"That's out of character," Reid said. "For someone who was so careful not to leave anything on the other envelopes…"

"Female doesn't fit the profile," Hotch agreed.

"Accomplice?" JJ suggested.

"After so long?" Morgan asked.

Emily knit her brows. "So we classify it as a simple slip up? For someone who was so careful?"

"We don't have anything to match it to anyway," Lindsay pointed out. "We ran it against other case DNA, just in case, but nothing came up."

"Prints on the envelope too," Lindsay added. "No match in any data base."

"I had a chance to talk to Mr and Mrs Kent today," JJ said, shuffling through papers. "Their son went missing four days ago from the park. Mom turned for thirty seconds to grab a bottle from the bag when she turned around, the kid was gone. CSU did find a hair wrapped in the rags Lucas was wrapped in. No match from any of the people around, neighbours, the owners of the house, or the jogger who found him."

"So we've got a hair, DNA and prints and still, we come up with nothing," Morgan lamented slamming a fist on the table.

"We have to be missing something," Emily agreed. "Something that must be obvious since we've been over every detail a million times."

Exasperation was going around like a disease, infecting each and every person. Even Garcia, the peppiest, happiest of them all was down. And the worst part was all they could really do was wait.

* * *

**_ I apologize for this being so short, but there really wasn't even any sort of personal relationship things I wanted to address in this chapter so it got cut short. 19 should be up in a couple of hours pending my decision on whether or not to have my own Criminal Minds marathon._**


	19. Happy Christmas

**December 19, 2007**

_Evening_

"Something's on your mind," Garcia said softly. She and Morgan had stolen his room, locking Reid out for the time being. But all he'd done was fidget and not only was it getting on her nerves while they watched a movie, but it was a classic Morgan sign of something amiss.

He sighed. "The same thing that's on everyone else's mind, Pen. This case."

"It is one of the harder ones," she agreed. "But do you have to fidget so much?"

"Sorry, Baby Girl," he said with a chuckle, his arm curling around her shoulders to pull her closer to his side.

Garcia went willingly, curling herself against him and biting her cheeks against her happy grin when he rested his cheek on her head. "'S okay," she promised. "I just worry about you."

"There's just so much I don't understand. Most of the unsubs we go after have one type of victim, one type of MO, and all of it speaks to their behaviour. This guy… We know nothing about this guy."

"That's not true and you know it," she contradicted. "You guys know so much about him."

"We know he hates Christmas, Pen, that's it."

"You know someone knows him," she protested. "You know he probably works in a high stress job with high stress in his family and personal life. You know he probably hasn't held down a relationship because of his job and a neurotic parent. You know he probably never had a real, good Christmas going up because of his specific aim at Christmas ornaments, but you also know he's probably got someone who really matters to him because he's careful to cover his tracks."

Her fingers were drawing absent patterns on his chest and it was a remarkably soothing touch. He could feel his muscles relaxing as she talked him through it. "He's not consistent. There's all sorts of holes in the profile."

"But the holes will get you guys closer, won't it? The things that don't make sense are what make each profile unique."

"Usually," he agreed. "This just seems to make things that much more frustrating."

"Probably because it's Christmas," Garcia grumbled. She was more annoyed that this unsub had ruined her quiet, case-less Christmas, deaths aside. "No one wants to work a case through Christmas."

"Aren't you the one who's always telling me we won't be working through Christmas?" he asked, tweaking her nose. "What happened to Penelope, the eternal optimist?"

"She went down the tubes around Do You Hear What I Hear," she answered, bristling. "Now I'm just ticked."

Morgan chuckled. "Movie, Pen. The case doesn't exist remember? Your rules."

She smiled. She'd made a list of rules before their movie and for once, she wasn't that upset at having her own rules tossed back at her. "You know, Gorgeous, you make an excellent pillow."

He chuckled, shaking her head with his body. "Movie, focus on the movie."

* * *

Emily knocked shyly on Aaron's door, in her other hand a brightly coloured gift she'd finally taken the time to wrap. With the case, Secret Santa had taken a back seat so she hadn't put wrapping on her priority list. However, the last couple of lyrics seemed to warrant the presentation of it.

Yet she was apprehensive. Here she was, at the door to his hotel room having just told him two days prior that she needed to be sure before she allowed herself to take what she wanted.

"Hey," he greeted when he opened the door. "Everything okay?"

She nodded. "Everything's good," she promised. "Um, this is for you."

He took the wrapped package and stepped aside. "Come in."

Emily was tentative as she stepped inside, part of her still worried this could be read out of context. Still, part of her was so frustrated at the cowardice. She wasn't timid. She was straight-forward and she worked hard to earn the things she deserved. And she knew he'd notice.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked again, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Yeah," she answered.

He started unwrapping the package. "This is for Secret Santa?"

This time she managed to chuckle. "Garcia set it all up."

"That sounds like her," he agreed smiling. The paper came away, a box in it's place. Slowly, carefully, Aaron removed the contents of the box, pulling out a black wooden picture frame. Inside the frame was a candid picture of father and son.

"JJ took it," she said when he just stared at the picture. "The picnic last year."

Aaron held the frame tightly for a few more seconds before setting it aside. Emily's heart was in her throat, anxiousness projecting from every pore in her body. She knew it had been a gamble, a sentimental gift like that, but even if the Secret Santa hadn't happened, she probably would have given it to him anyway.

Then he was in front of her, pulling her to her feet so he could wrap his arms around her body. She didn't refuse his fierce hug, holding him just as tightly. Moments like these made her sure of what she was getting into. Before she knew it, she was the one pulling back to kiss him. What her mind had meant as a soft kiss didn't even bother to hit the middle range before graduating to hot and steamy.

Aaron was the one to pull back. "You said you wanted time."

Emily sighed as she took a step back, distancing herself from him to build up the lost self-control. "I know. I shouldn't have done that," she agreed. "I just… I wanted to."

He didn't know what to say to that.

_So this is Christmas and what have you done  
Another year over and a new one just begun  
And so this is Christmas, I hope you have fun  
The near and the dear ones, the old and the young_

* * *

His hospital.

Of all of the hospitals that kid could have gone to, he had to show up in _his_.

Now he paced. He'd almost had to treat the kid. He knew the staff would be asking questions, wondering why a man who was single, dedicated to his job, would freeze when looking at a small child. He was known for his ability to compartmentalize, to focus on the emergency and not necessarily the person. It was what made him the go-to guy for the tough cases. But having that baby in the ER had thrown him off.

That day he'd called in sick, something he hadn't done in years. This was too close to home, too close to everything he knew. He had to get out of there for a while, just until Christmas Day. He'd still make it to his parents' for dinner – on threat of death – but he had to get out of there.

Now.


	20. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

**December 20, 2007**

Carrie Saunders stepped carefully into the precinct on the morning of December 20th, her entire being shaking with apprehension and worry. It had taken a lot of agonizing over the last couple of days, since she'd seen the blond agent broadcast on the news, to step up.

"Can I help you?" asked the friendly woman at the desk.

"Um… I'm…" She had to stop and swallow. "I'm looking for Agent Jareau."

"Stay there for a second, sweetheart and I'll go get her. Just sign in here and clip this somewhere on yourself, okay?"

Carrie nodded as the woman headed off, doing exactly what she'd asked. Her mind was whirling.

"Miss? I'm Agent Jareau."

"Carrie Saunders."

"Is there something-"

"I saw your press thing on the news," Carrie interrupted in a rush holding out a snowflake envelope, her hand shaking. "And I think it could be my brother."

* * *

"Finally, a lead," Morgan said, bouncing on the balls of his feet outside the interview room where JJ was talking to the young woman.

"Assuming the sister's right," Emily pointed out, standing calmly reading over the lyrics in the envelope Carrie had brought in.

_Have yourself a merry little Christmas  
Let yourself be light  
From now on your troubles will be out of sight_

"If anyone can get anything out of her, it's Jayje," Garcia argued decisively. "If this is our guy, Jayje'll get it out of her."

"God, I probably wouldn't be able to turn in one of my sisters like this," Morgan said.

"You do what you have to do for the people you love," Reid contradicted, thinking of the day he committed his mother. "If it's for their own good, you justify it to yourself."

----------------------------------

"Why do you think it's your brother?"

"He works a really stressful job, an ER doctor," Carrie said with a shaky smile. "He's usually such a good guy, Agent Jareau."

"JJ," the blond corrected with a smile.

Carrie nodded, taking a deep breath. "I know he's been angry about Christmas," she continued. "My mom is pretty picky about having things all her way and I know she was riding Devon hard. When we'd go out for lunch, he wouldn't be able to stop ranting about how she wanted this or that. I tried to explain it was just Mom, but…"

"Has he ever attacked anything Christmas?" JJ asked softly.

"He's always said he hates Christmas," Carrie answered. "He hates the hullabaloo and I know he sees more people come through the hospital around Christmas, for whatever reason. The ice can be treacherous."

JJ nodded. "It's natural that hospitals get a few more people," she agreed. "Is there anything that could make him do more than just vandalize? That he could be the one that killed those people?"

Carrie twisted her hands in her lap. "This year is extra important for my mom. I'm bringing my fiancée home for the first time, and Devon said she'd gone overboard on ensuring everything was going to be perfect for Christmas dinner. Since my mom won't ask my dad to do anything – they're extremely old fashioned – she turned to Devon to pick up the few things she thought he could be responsible enough to remember."

"These came with the crimes. They've been sent here every day." JJ pulled the lyrics out of the folder. "Does this seem like him?"

Carrie flipped through all of the pages. She gasped when she landed on Jingle Bells. "I sealed this," she said softly, more to herself than JJ.

"I'm sorry?"

Carrie's eyes were wide. "He asked me to bring this to him, at the hospital. He called almost hysterical and asked me to bring the snowflake paper and envelope on his coffee table. I… All he would tell me was that he had another conversation with Mom."

JJ met Carrie's eyes solemnly. "We're going to need your DNA and fingerprints."

----------------------------------

"An ER doc?" Morgan asked.

"That is pretty stressful, seeing all of those cases come in," Emily agreed. "And add a neurotic mother on top of that…"

"There was a guy acting weird at the hospital when we were there waiting for the information on the infant," Morgan said. "He was supposed to be the doctor assigned to the case."

"He turned it down?"

"More passed it off," Morgan replied. "And he wouldn't go near the kid, wouldn't get anywhere close."

"Maybe he had someone like that who didn't make it?" Emily suggested.

"Saunders. The doctor's name was Saunders."

Reid turned his head. "The woman in there is Carrie Saunders."

----------------------------------

"He is a good guy," Carrie reiterated. "He and I just… We've always been close and I love him and I know… It's just…"

"Hey," JJ said carefully, reaching out a hand. "This couldn't have been easy, coming in here like this."

"Mom… she wanted everything to be absolutely perfect and… I know… She's always pushed Devon into doing things. I mean, she and Dad made him go into med school."

"So your parents have always been hard on your brother?"

"I guess… Devon's always said they worship me and hate him. And I guess Mom went a little over board this year with how specific she was about this holiday."

JJ knew the odds of that playing a role in heir unsub's behaviour. She'd been with the team long enough to recognize the effect a lack of attention from a parent could have on a child's psyche. "Thanks, Carrie," she said softly as she headed back to the team.

"Lack of attention is the perfect catalyst to a perfectionist nature. Especially since he was pushed to do things," Reid said immediately.

"Our guy makes sure to leave nothing behind," Morgan agreed.

"Carrie volunteered a DNA sample and fingerprints. She claims she licked the envelope shut and took the envelope to her brother at the hospital," JJ said, leaning against the wall with a sigh.

"There was a Dr Saunders at the hospital."

"You think this is our guy?" Emily asked mirroring JJ's stance.

"I'd put money on it," Morgan nodded. "How many doctors do you know that would turn down treating an infant that just came in?"

Hotch, who had stood aside, hands on hips, nodded. "Let's find him."


	21. My Grown Up Christmas List

**December 21, 2007**

Devon Saunders sat in the interrogation room at the police department, shifting, fidgeting, moving constantly. Hotch watched through the two way mirror, arms crossed debating which of his team members would be best for this interrogation.

"Hey," Emily greeted quietly as she stepped up beside him. "Sweating him out just took on new meaning."

"We have anything on him?"

"No prints or DNA except for Carrie's. DNA and prints came back this morning. All we have is her testimony. You going to send someone in?"

"Not before we have an angle on him," Hotch answered.

"His sister? His mother? Let's poke the bear."

"Poke the bear?" he asked, amusement in his voice.

"My dad used to say that all the time when he had to deal with my mother in a bad mood. He used to call it poking the bear because he used to tease her."

He chuckled. "I don't know."

"Morgan's always good at that."

"We really have nothing on him?"

"JJ, Morgan and Reid are still over at his apartment but it's not like he wrote down his plans."

He looked down at her. "Looks like it's you and me."

_Do you remember me?  
I sat upon your knee  
I wrote to you with childhood fantasy_

* * *

"Perfectionist nature gone overboard," JJ murmured as she went though Devon Saunders' papers on his desk. "There's at least two copies of every one of his medical reports in here."

"Not OCD though," Reid murmured, his hands dragging over the nearby closet.

Saunders' apartment was pretty much one room with a separate bathroom and a few waist-high divider walls. The place was as neat but most definitely not obsessively so. Morgan was looking around by the living room phone, pressing the button for the answering machine.

"Boy, your mother is holding a family meeting. Tomorrow."

Morgan raised an eyebrow at his colleagues as the next message began to play.

"I said sharp and you are not here!"

Even JJ and Reid flinched at the high pitched scream.

"Lunch at noon means noon!"

Morgan turned off the machine a hand coming up to his ear in an attempt to straighten it out and hear again. "Well, I think we know what kind of a stressor set him off. That message was left at five after twelve."

"Five minutes?" JJ asked in awe. "I'd feel like killing someone if my mother was like that."

"I don't think it would ever make me _kill_ though," Morgan contradicted. "It would take a lot more than that."

"For you and me, maybe," JJ argued. "But think about it. Dealing with that your entire life? Snapping wouldn't be surprising."

"Reid's never killed anyone," Morgan threw out. "He's an FBI agent."

"Sometimes you just get fed up," Reid murmured. "And do something you never thought you'd do before."

_Well I'm all grown up now  
And still need help somehow  
I'm not a child but my heart still can dream_

* * *

"I… I didn't have… I wanted to have a good Christmas. Carrie was bringing home a guy and I guess… I guess I just snapped," Devon explained to the two agents in front of him.

"Snapped?" Emily questioned gently.

"I…" he licked his lips. "Part of me knew what I was doing, but I didn't have control. Not… not really."

Emily and Hotch exchanged a look. Psychosis brought on by stressful parents would pose a little bit of a problem in prosecuting him. Not that they really cared. If psychosis and his parents were a problem, he would be best where he could be treated for it.

"Did you realize you were killing?"

"It… It was an urge and I couldn't seem to stop myself. I knew… I guess, but I didn't have control over it," he said, his hands twisting and turning even in the cuffs. "I just… I wanted her to stop."

_So here's my lifelong wish  
My grownup Christmas list  
Not for myself but for a world in need._

* * *

A pounding knock on the door startled JJ, Reid and Morgan, still searching the apartment for any shred of a clue that could link Saunders to the murders. After exchanging a glance, it was Morgan who went to answer it.

A woman stormed in arms flailing everywhere. "Carrie said she went to the _police_! That _you_ were the one killing all of those people. How could you do this to the family, to your sister during such an important year!"

"Mrs. Saunders," Morgan tried, but the woman was in a full fledged tirade.

"They're looking for you, it's all over the news. Murder, rape, kidnapping, attempted murder… what were you thinking?!"

JJ exchanged a look with Morgan, their argument solved. A mother like this could drive anyone to do drastic things to relax the stress. "Mrs Saunders, your son isn't here," JJ said loudly, used to interrupting tirade. "He's already at the station."

The woman blinked as she took in the three people around her, none of which was her son. "I knew that boy was no good from the minute he could scream his head off."

Morgan raised an eyebrow at JJ at the mother's words. It didn't sound to him like Mrs Saunders was all that fond of her son. "So he was always destructive?"

"Always a trouble-maker," she agreed plopping down on the couch.

"And Carrie?" JJ asked gently as she took a seat beside the obviously stressed mother.

"Carrie is a gorgeous, smart, fantastic girl," her mother gushed. "She's doing brilliantly, bringing her fiancée home for Christmas dinner… and then _he_ had to go and… get involved in all of this. I knew he would always cause trouble."

As Morgan guided the woman back out the door, presumably to take her to the car and to the precinct, JJ turned to Reid. "And to think, she probably could have prevented all of this by giving him a few hugs."

Reid watched the woman leave with a small shake of his head. "Sometimes it's more than that."

_No more lives torn apart  
That wars would never start  
And time will heal all hearts  
And everyone would have a friend  
And right would always win  
And love would never end  
This is my grown up Christmas list._


	22. Christmas is All in the Heart

**December 22, 2007**

Relaxation had taken over the team following the arrest and confession of Devon Saunders. And not a moment too soon. After all, Christmas was only four days away. So now, instead of frustration, annoyance and short tempers it was smiles, laughter and memories abound.

"I remember my dad and I making gingerbread one year," Emily said to JJ as she packed the few things that were staples in and FBI ready bag. "And we tried to use actual icing because I hated the icing they packed."

"Ugh, I know what you mean," JJ agree, emerging from the bathroom. "I'm all for sugar, but really."

"Exactly, so we tried to use regular icing-"

"Why can't you use regular icing?" Reid asked. He and Morgan did better living out of their ready bags than Emily and JJ and thus, had taken all of ten minutes to pack.

"It won't hold the pieces together well enough to make a house," JJ answered. She'd invited Reid to spend the little bit of time before heading to the airport with them while they packed. He'd gone quiet after meeting Mrs Saunders the day before and she was worried about him.

"Well, eventually I got upset because the house wouldn't stand properly and I wouldn't listen to my dad when he told me that only the icing they provided would work for the cement. I started to cry and buried my face in my hands…"

"No!" JJ gasped with a smile seeing where this was going.

"Oh yeah. I had icing all over my face. There are pictures somewhere," Emily said laughing.

"We used to make a new ornament every year," JJ said. "December first, no matter where we were, or what we were doing, we'd take a few hours that night to make a new ornament for the tree. What about you, Spence?"

He looked shocked to be brought into the conversation. "Um… Christmas… it wasn't that… I have to go."

JJ sighed as Reid made a beeline for the door. "I shouldn't have said anything."

"Hey," Emily protested.

"I knew he didn't have Christmas as a kid," JJ contradicted as she zipped up her bag. "I shouldn't have said anything."

A knock sounded on the door. It was time to head back to Quantico.

* * *

JJ knew the team had manipulated their way into leaving her and Spencer alone on the drive back to Quantico and while part of her relished the opportunity to fix things, the other part of her was apprehensive about saying anything else. Yet, something told her there was something more than Christmas on his mind. 

After a while, the silence was starting to bug her. "Everything okay?"

Spencer looked around. "I'm fine."

Silence settled for a minute while JJ continued to drive, her mind trying to puzzle out exactly what was going on in his head. And contrary to popular belief, she knew behaviour almost as well as her colleagues. Reid wasn't that hard to read either.

Then it came to her.

"You're different than he was," she said softly.

"How am I different?" Reid said just as softly, sounding like he didn't even realize he was talking. "I never had Christmas."

"He had Christmas and he killed," JJ pointed out.

"But-"

"No but, Spence. Christmas is always different for everyone. You… just knew. You're a genius. Your mother wasn't neurotic, she was schizophrenic. There's a difference."

"Why was I never that bitter?"

"You were strong enough to do what was best for your mom and what was best for you," JJ responded. "You put her in a facility because you cared. And your mother loves you. Devon Saunders didn't have that guarantee."

"You know I don't even go visit her on Christmas?"

JJ chanced a glance at her colleague. He was still gazing out over the landscape flashing by, his eyes fixed on nothing in particular. "Morgan doesn't go visit his family on Christmas. Emily doesn't see hers. You're not that much different from the rest of us and we're not killers either."

Spencer just sighed.

JJ hit his shoulder slightly. "Can you grab my purse?" She'd thrown it into the backseat. Driving with it and a person in the front seat was a hassle she preferred to avoid.

He eyed her suspiciously as she started rifling through the thing, "JJ, maybe I should help…"

She was grinning victoriously as she withdrew a CD jewel case. "Pop this in for me. Track six."

Spencer did as she asked. The music that flooded the vehicle was slow, gentle and he looked at JJ curiously.

"Just wait," she said with a smile. Then she did the thing he expected least. JJ started to sing along with the CD.

He listened to her sing, listening to the words for what exactly she wanted him to hear. It took a while, but eventually, he found it.

_No it's not in the snow that may or may not fall  
And it's not in the gifts around the tree  
It's in the love heaven gave the night our Saviour came  
And that same love can still be found wherever you are  
'Cause Christmas is all in the heart_

JJ reached over to turn down the volume at the end of the song, sure her point had been made. "Sometimes all it takes is the right person or the right group of people in your life to balance you out."

They said nothing else throughout the ride back, though JJ allowed the CD of her favourite Christmas songs to keep playing along in the background. She wasn't one to enjoy silences all that much so the music helped keep her nerves at bay for the ride. When they got back – after Emily, Morgan, Hotch and Garcia had headed inside apparently – they climbed out together and headed towards the building.

It wasn't until they reached the elevator, doors closed and on the way up to the BAU, that either of them made any move towards the other. This time, JJ almost jumped out of her skin when Spencer wrapped both of his arms tightly around her, pulling her close to his body such that the only place she could really put her head was right in the juncture of his neck and shoulder.

Her arms wrapped around him in response, surprised and happy to be in such a position. She could feel his cheek rest against her hair and closed her eyes to just take in the feeling. Then lips ghosted against her head.

"Thanks JJ," he whispered just before the bell dinged and the doors started to open. "I think I've found that person."

The blush and smile didn't fade from JJ's face for hours.

* * *


	23. Jingle Bell Rock

**December 23, 2007**

It was a rare occurrence that each member of Aaron Hotchner's BAU team showed up for the annual Christmas party, but this year, since they'd been working a case for the better part of the month, it was something not only Penelope, but even Aaron had insisted upon. Renewing Christmas spirit seemed number one on many lists of things to do.

Derek was the first to arrive, Penelope right beside him arguing about the best place for the Christmas tree in her apartment. When Derek had shown up at her door, the first thing he'd commented on was the fact that once again, the tree was in a different place. It was a Penelope tradition to put the tree in a different corner every year, almost on rotation. It drove traditional-style Derek crazy.

JJ and Emily were next, having decided to get ready together. After all, they still had their deal to finish and getting ready with a girlfriend always helped to increase self-esteem. They both seemed to head straight to the food and drinks, both of them eventually deciding against anything alcoholic. Whatever they did, however they decided to take care of their current man problems, they decided they were going to do it and remember every second.

Spencer looked terrified when he stepped in, long after the party had started trying not to react to seeing JJ and Derek briefly caught under the mistletoe. He was still surprised at his reaction to JJ's words and a little embarrassed. Much of that jealousy and embarrassment evaporated when JJ's face lit up upon catching sight of him.

"Hey," she said softly, standing no more than a step and a half in front of him.

"Hey," he greeted in response, his hands in his pockets. "How are you?"

"I'm good. You?" They hadn't seen each other in the last twenty-four hours. JJ had been a mess of paperwork and phone calls after their last case, not to mention the cases that were on her desk to approve or turn down.

There was no way Spencer was going to be able to lie to those blue eyes, especially since she had figured out what was bugging him to begin with. "I'm better," he promised. "I called my mom today."

"Really?" JJ asked, pulling him by his sleeve to a nearby chair and sitting him down.

Spencer nodded. "To wish her a Merry Christmas."

"And?"

"She started lecturing me on how Christmas wasn't for a few days yet," he answered with a fond smile.

JJ smiled back, full wattage. "Well that's something."

He hummed his agreement.

JJ stood. "Dance with me?"

"JJ, I don't-"

"Come on, it's not that hard."

"Really, it's probably not a good idea." He almost groaned when she pouted. He liked this happy playful JJ, much more than he liked middle-of-a-case JJ, but she was going to be terrible for his self-esteem and reputation at this rate.

"Please, Spence?"

He was whipped and they weren't even dating. "You're responsible for anything that happens out there."

She just laughed.

_Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock  
Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring  
Snowing and blowing and bushels of fun  
Now the jingle hop has begun._

* * *

Derek twirled Penelope out from his body before pulling her close again, watching her face lit up in laughter the entire time. 

"Derek Morgan, you could sweep a girl off her feet by dancing like this," she said as she fitted herself to his body. It was rare that she actually got to hold him like this, and she took pleasure in what she firmly believed would be a short moment.

"Could, Mama?" he asked, wrapping his arm more snugly around her. His other held her hand, absently tucking it close to his heart.

She could feel his heartbeat against her and had to remind herself to breathe. Not that it made breathing that much easier. Being so close to him had her breathing him in and she sighed.

"Everything okay?" he asked, tilting his head down to look in her eyes.

She nodded. "It's Christmas."

He chuckled. "That it is, but there's something else on your mind, Pen."

The blond just shrugged.

"Penelope…"

"Can we just enjoy ourselves please?" she asked with a half-hearted smile. _While it lasts._

_Giddyup__jingle horse pick up your feet  
Jingle around the clock  
Mix and mingle and a jinglin' beat  
That's the jingle bell rock!_

* * *

_Leave it to Aaron Hotchner to be locked up in his office during a party he pushed us all to attend,_ Emily thought to herself as she climbed the stairs. When he hadn't shown up an hour into the party, she figured she'd check the next logical place. The lights in his office gave him away, contrasting sharply against the dim bullpen lights. 

She didn't bother to knock on the door. "You're here and not at the party."

Aaron looked up and froze. Emily Prentiss, he decided, should never be allowed to where white. It was a beautifully patterned dress, white halter neck with a swirling thread a gold throughout. It made her dark eyes and hair stand out in stark contract, emphasizing her natural beauty.

"Come dance." She rolled her eyes at his minute resistance. "Come dance, Aaron."

It was probably her use of his first name that caught him off guard more so than the request, but he really should have known better than to believe his absence wouldn't be noticed. Still, he'd hoped.

Emily grabbed his hand, pulling him from his desk chair and around to the door. "I was in the middle of something," he protested feebly as she flicked off his lights.

"You were the one that told us to go. You need to relax too," she answered swiftly as she pulled the door closed. "You can start by joining all of us at this thing. JJ even got Reid to dance."

"If anyone could it would be JJ," he pointed out, his mind busy processing her hand in his own.

"It's something to be seen, that's for sure," Emily replied. "I'm not completely sure whether I want to laugh or help."

It didn't take them long to reach the party and after the customary and required hellos, good evenings and Merry Christmases, Emily dragged Aaron onto the dance floor. "You know," she said after a minute, "We seem to do this naturally."

"Do what?" he asked his hand splaying over her back.

"Pair off like this."

He twirled her around under his arm, the whole thing giving him a chance to see the full dress. He hoped she made up her mind soon. If this was how she dressed for a Bureau party he could only imagine what she'd do for a date. "Is there a problem with that?"

Emily laughed. "No, not at all. It's just funny that we've been doing this forever and yet none of us have really… well, done anything about it."

He looked around at his team, Penelope and Derek dancing, away in their own world and JJ's face screwed up in amusement as she tried not to laugh and help Spencer to dance. Emily was, in a way, right. The feelings between his team were obvious, very obvious, but none of them had made that all-important step towards more.

"I think this Christmas things will change," she said softly, her voice for his ears only.

He met her eyes. "You think so?"

Emily smiled secretively. "I know so."

Aaron could only hope it meant them too.

_Bright time, it's the right time  
To rock the night away  
Jingle bell time, it's a swell time  
To go a-riding in a one horse sleigh._

* * *


	24. All I Want for Christmas is You

**Christmas Eve  
December 24, 2007**

There was something new in the air of the BAU as they did their paperwork the next day and each and every one of them knew it had everything to do with the little green and white sprig tied with red ribbon over the glass doors of the bullpen. People had been getting caught under the mistletoe all morning and it had created quite the playful and nervous atmosphere.

But along with that nervous atmosphere came a tidbit of jealousy. After all, there was only so much kissing one could take before someone was going to get annoyed enough to get angry, especially if the guy you wanted to kiss was Derek Morgan, apparently.

Penelope had been on her way to JJ's office for one thing or another, when she'd glanced over at the BAU, having caught a flash of dark skin. There, in the doorway, was Derek leaning over to kiss a woman's cheek. That wasn't the problem though, the problem was that he was there with someone else when she came back. This time, however, she didn't get off easy.

"Baby Girl, there you are," he said happily. "I haven't seen you today."

"I've been busy," she said evasively, hiding her eyes, knowing he'd be able to figure everything out.

"What's wrong, Pen?"

_Oh yeah,_ she remembered suddenly._ He'd__ recognize evasive behaviour too. Nice work Penelope. _"Nothing," she answered. "I just had to drop something off for Jayje."

He nodded. It was a good enough reason to be heading by. He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Merry Christmas Eve, Baby Girl," he said, his voice a low rumble in her ear. Then he straightened. "When do you want me over tonight for dinner?"

"Whenever you guys are done here," she said vaguely.

Derek seemed to consider that for a moment. "Deal, but I have something for you first."

"Derek!" Penelope admonished, but the corners of her mouth twitched in an excited grin.

"Secret Santa's on until Christmas Day," he pointed out. "Your rules."

For once in the entire span of her life, Penelope cursed her overly happy Christmas spirit. With a sigh she followed him into the bullpen, waiting anxiously by his desk. She wanted to get back to her office where she could semi-sulk in peace. Yet it kicked back in when she caught sight of the small box wrapped in colourful paper. She opened it quickly, tossing the paper into his garbage can nearby.

"Derek," she gasped at the velvet box she withdrew. "You spoil me."

He grinned. "Open it first," he encouraged.

She did slowly, grinning like a maniac at the gift inside. Much like her earrings, this bracelet was made entirely of bells, though tiny bells of all sorts of Christmas colours. She pulled it out of the box immediately and held it out for him.

"You like?" he asked with a grin as he fastened it to her wrist.

She laughed brightly as she shook her arm, making the bells jingle softly. "This is fabulous!" She bounced up on the balls of her feet to kiss his cheek.

"It's very you," he agreed, his grin wider than he thought it could ever get. His cheeks were going to start hurting in a moment, and all because she looked oh so happy and excited about the little trinket.

"You know me too well. And you spoil me," she said as she watched Derek gather up an armload of files. "Where are you going?"

"These have to be dropped off, I figured I could walk you as far as your bat cave then officially finish these babies," he answered as he put a hand on her lower back to guide her out of the room. Before he could actually step out the doors however, someone called his name and both of them paused, turning, to find Emily grinning slyly. "Yeah Em?"

The brunette shrugged. "Nothing," she said nonchalantly. "Just… mistletoe."

Penelope blushed bright red, her hands clenched together around the box in her hands. She felt her neck get even hotter at the twinkle in his eye when he returned his gaze from the sprig on the door.

Derek smiled at her. "It's tradition," he said softly.

"It is," she agreed, bouncing on her toes again to kiss his cheek then continue on her merry way.

However, Derek had other ideas and pulled her back to him cupping her face and briefly brushing his lips against hers. He grinned at her gasp. "You didn't think you were going to get away that easy, did you Mama?"

Penelope blinked up at him, surprise still written all over her face. A million things were racing through her head. Why hadn't he settled for that kiss on the cheek? Why hadn't he just moved on? Why did he get her the most thoughtful gifts? Why was he doing all of this? Then he kissed her again, this time just a little bit more forcefully than the last.

"Merry Christmas, Penelope."

Then he was gone, leaving her behind in the bullpen to Emily's knowing look as she strolled over.

"Oh back off," she said snappishly.

Emily only patted Penelope's shoulder. "You know, out of all the girls that have deliberately caught Morgan under the mistletoe, you're the only one he's really kissed."

As if she didn't have enough to think about.

* * *

Spencer looked at JJ's door apprehensively. In her Christmas spirit, she'd hung a sprig of mistletoe from her door and the only thing it could remind him of was how much he wanted to kiss her. Mistletoe would be the perfect excuse. 

Psyching himself up, he knocked gently on the door, files under his arm. She looked up as he entered, expecting to find another delivery of potential files for her to look over. Instead, it was Spencer Reid that stepped into her office, looking slightly sheepish but proud of himself.

"These are yours," he said, handing her a stack of files. "The ones you left on my desk before we left for Annandale."

She blushed. "We're just playing you know," she said softly. "We didn't necessarily mean for you to do them all."

Spencer shrugged. "It's okay," he said. "It was a challenge."

"And who would you be if you backed down from a challenge?" JJ agreed with a laugh. They fell silent after that, neither really sure what to say. The tension was palpable and while part of JJ revelled in it, it was also a slightly uncomfortable feeling.

"Anyway," he said haltingly. "I should… get back."

JJ sighed as she lowered her head as she listened to his footsteps fade. Just a file, not another Secret Santa gift, nothing to acknowledge their conversation in the car the previous day. Then she caught sight of a folder she didn't think he'd meant to leave. It was half finished and it was most definitely his.

"Spence!" she called, getting up from her chair. They met at the door, Spencer just returning to see what she'd called him about and JJ rising to meet him half way.

"This one's yours," she said, offering it to him with a smile.

He took it, holding it in the air for a moment after she'd let go.

"Spence?"

His eyes darted to the mistletoe on her door before meeting hers. "Does this count as being under the mistletoe?"

JJ's eyes widened as he took a half step forward. She swallowed. "I guess so."

Then he was kissing her and while JJ had expected awkwardness, there was none. Spencer kissed her like she was the only meaning in his life, like she was the only thing that mattered and though she kissed back, there was very little she could force her body to do with her brain screaming two different things. He pulled away, both of them panting.

"You know what?" she murmured, her hands still wrapped around his neck, the tips playing with the hairs on the base of his neck.

"What?" Spencer asked distractedly. That had been a lot better than he had even been able to fantasize.

JJ pulled him further into her office, for once glad the wall into the building was solid. She turned herself so her back was to the door and pulled him to her again. "I don't think we really need the mistletoe."

Spencer grinned, meeting her as she leaned towards him. Finally, _finally_, they'd taken that step they'd been fighting for the better part of four years. And he had to admit, it felt good.

* * *

Aaron sat at his desk, his eyes darting over the handwritten note for the millionth time. He'd found it on his desk, on top of a stack of files he needed to sign off on for Emily. He'd recognized her handwriting before he started reading the words, but it was the words that had shocked him a little bit. 

Emily had asked for time, and he was comfortable enough to give it to her, even if it destroyed almost every ability he had to think when he was around her. This, however, spoke of a very different Emily Prentiss. There could really be no doubt left in what the words meant.

_I don't want a lot for Christmas  
There's just one thing I need.  
I don't care about the presents  
Underneath the Christmas tree.  
I just want you for my own  
More than you could ever know  
Make my wish come true,  
All I want for Christmas is you._

His heart beat harshly in his chest, knowing she was out there in the bullpen, that he could see her through the cracks in his blinds. What was their next step? Did he go out there? Did he call her in? Did he write her back? He was out of practice in the dating game, that much was for sure.

He didn't get a chance to say anything to her until it was almost time leave for the day and she popped her head in to see if he'd finished with those files. He waved her in, not surprised that she knew enough to close the door behind her. He'd closed the blinds hours ago, the only light in his office now from the artificial ones.

"You told me you wanted time," he repeated, having said that to her the last time they kissed.

"I did," she answered. "I know what I want."

"And?"

"The risks could very well be worth it in the long run," she answered with a shrug. "I've wanted you…" she chuckled self-deprecatingly. "For a long time. I just wasn't ready for it to be real."

Which, ironically, was the part he didn't understand and he told her so. "You're beautiful, intelligent, charismatic… why would you think a man wouldn't want you?"

Emily shrugged. "Side effect, really," she answered. "As I explained to Morgan once, I'm a nerd. I can hide it for so long, but eventually, something comes out and I ruin my cover."

"I know that," he said softly. "It doesn't make a difference to me."

"It's still not easy to overcome," she pointed out. Then she shrugged. "Does it matter in the long run?"

Aaron stood, coming around the desk to stand with her. "No."

She stepped closer, the space between them diminishing substantially. "Didn't think so."

Who leaned in first would be an argument to be hashed out later. This time when they kissed it was worth so much more, felt like so much more and the thrills that shook Emily's body were the same ones that made Aaron's hum. Eventually they both broke away, aware they were in the office and fraternization, especially between unit leader and member were frowned upon.

"Come over tomorrow," he said, holding her hands in his. They'd put space in between to try and stave off the urge to kiss again.

"Christmas Day?"

"Yeah. For dinner. Jack will be back with Haley by noon."

"I thought you had to take him back tonight?"

"I talked with Haley, since we were off on a case. I'll open presents with Jack tomorrow morning and take him over around noon."

Emily nodded. "I don't know…"

He stroked her hair, closing the distance between them without really thinking about it. "No one should be alone on Christmas."

A smile slowly blossomed over her face. "Okay."

Aaron grinned, leaning in to kiss her quickly. "Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow," Emily agreed blushing. Then she left, closing his office door behind her.

For the first time in a long time, since his last good Christmas with Haley, Aaron felt his face split in a grin, one he never showed at work. Slowly, he started whistling as he made his way back to his desk, the words circling in his head.

'_Cause I just want you here tonight  
Holding on to me so tight  
What more can I do  
Baby all I want for Christmas is you._

* * *

**_I feel like Hotch is OOC and for that, I apologize, but I'm actually rather happy with this chapter, so no matter how odd he may be acting, I won't be changing it! LOL._**

**_Thanks to everyone that's reviewed. I'm off to do something Christmas-y. I'll try and have the last chapter up before midnight EST._**

**_Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!_**


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